


Star Wars - The Force Reborn (An Alternate Sequel)

by Avita



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Epic, Fantasy, Firefight, Jedi, Lightsaber, Monsters, Mystical, Other, Science Fiction, Sith, Space Battle, Space Opera, aleena - Freeform, alien - Freeform, chase scene, force, sequel rewrite, space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:47:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 47,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26068207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avita/pseuds/Avita
Summary: STARWARSEpisode VIITHE FORCE REBORNThe days of peace for the NEW REPUBLIC are ended. Surprise attacks from the imperial splinter nation, the FIRST ORDER, have struck without warning, appearing as if from nothing. Entire systems have fallen silent as Empress Nilin Zaara’s campaign spreads across the galaxy.With only a small standing army of the NEW REPUBLIC, Supreme Chancellor Leia Organa has instead called on the band of RESISTANCE fighters to face this threat. But without a counter to the FIRST ORDER’s mysterious appearances, only the return of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker can rekindle their fading hope.After a daring theft stole Leia’s coordinates to her brother’s location, New Republic forces pursue the First Order spy…
Kudos: 1





	1. The First Order's Escape

The wide-winged, arrow-shaped ship’s thrusters glowed with exertion as its pilot pushed them to their limit. Around it, blue laser bursts flashed past even as its myriad of cannons responded in kind with crimson beams.

Ahead was its destination, a massive wedge-shaped ship which loomed over the approaching battle. Seven ships followed in pursuit, six A2-wing fighters trailed by a gleaming Nabooian carrier cruiser. Though the fighters were closer than the Star Eliminator ahead of it, the DIM cruiser’s shields kept their shots at bay, if just barely.

A shot struck the DIM cruiser’s left wing, causing it to lurch. Another shot hit the shields just over its right thruster. In return, two shots from the DIM cruiser’s cannons struck one of its pursuers, sending it spiraling aside before erupting in a fiery explosion.

As the fight came in range of the Star Eliminator however, four of the fighters peeled away from the DIM cruiser and sped by it towards the massive ship. Their guns glowed hot, striking the ship’s shields while it, unable to return fire without risking the DIM cruiser, waited patiently for a clean shot.

Aboard the DIM cruiser, Neotroopers hurried to the left wing where the shot had struck. Fire climbed up the wall and smoke flooded the corridor. Two troopers with extinguishers rushed forward to the blaze, unleashing a torrent of white gas. The fire died, leaving black scorches along the corridor. Once the last tongue of flame flickered out, the taller of the troopers took a long breath and put his back to the wall.

He breathed heavily as adrenaline coursed through him, but otherwise the corridor was silent for a moment. The tall trooper looked up at his comrade who was bent over, his hands on his knees as he too tried to recover from their sprint.

It was the last thing the tall trooper saw. Another shot from the remaining pursuer struck the left wing again. A fireball burst forth, throwing both troopers against the opposite wall. Sirens blared as the entire ship rocked.

The other trooper’s ears rang and for what seemed an eternity he remained still, unable to move through the shock. When a searing heat began to permeate his armor, he finally found the will to move and scrambled away from the reborn inferno. He fell forward and rolled onto his back as he kicked the ground trying to get away from the flames.

His eyes fell on the tall trooper who just seconds before had been alive before him, his body now motionless as his white, red, and gold armor turned black from the smoke.

The ringing in his ears faded and a voice became audible. “-rt! FN-2187 do you copy?!”

“I… I copy,” FN-2187 replied breathlessly.

“FN-2187 report! _What is your status?!_ ”

He brought his fist up to his helmet and smacked it. A second of static filled the line as he said, “I’m here. FA-8299, I copy.”

“Thank the Empress,” FA-8299 responded with notable relief in her voice. “What’s going on over there?”

“There was…” FN-2187 paused to swallow, “… an explosion. FH-3434 didn’t make it.”

“We need that fire out now,” FA-8299 replied. “We’re almost to the Absolve.”

FN-2187 took several breaths before nodding. “I’m on it.”

He got to his feet. No one else would be coming with other extinguishers; they were either operating the guns or on the bridge working the navigation. He spotted both extinguishers, one on the opposite side of the fire and the other just underneath it. An idea came to him and he grabbed his blaster from its holster. He fired a shot at the extinguisher in the fire and the canister burst. White gas consumed the corridor in an instant, immediately smothering the flames.

“I got it!” FN-2187 shouted.

“Good! Get up here!” FA-8299 ordered.

FN-2187’s eyes lingered on the dead neotrooper, their blackened armor now coated in spray of white foam. A shard of piping protruded from just below his neck. Shrapnel had peppered the polished armor with pits and holes.

A numbness seemed to grow over him as the sight seemed to consume his field of view, everything else fading into obscurity. Once more his hearing seemed to vanish, this time to be replaced by the pounding of his blood. His breathing froze completely, his whole body paralyzed.

Death.

And he had been mere inches from it. Had FH-3434 not stopped where he had, the shrapnel would have penetrated FN-2187 instead. His death was the only reason FN-2187 yet lived.

When he finally turned to run, he was not sure if it was to the bridge or away from what had almost been his grave.

The scene on the bridge was tense. The A2-wings that had split off had begun making bombing runs along the hull of the Star Eliminator. The massive ship was now firing against them, but at close range the defensive cannons seemed to be having trouble with the sheer speed of the A2-wings.

FN-2187 heard a cheer from the gun bay behind him as he entered the bridge. “Last pursuit fighter is down, Captain!”

“Good. Let’s board and get out of here,” FA-8299 responded. “We’re almost done, neos! Excellent job!” FN-2187 heard more cheers from the gun bay.

As he stepped forward, FA-8299, her armor a mix of white and gold with blue officer highlights, turned to him. “Good job, trooper,” she said.

FN-2187 only nodded.

The DIM cruiser drifted under the Star Eliminator and turned to match its direction and speed, angling for the middle of the docking alley that ran the length of the ship’s underside. A series of banging noises as the clamps grabbed ahold of the cruiser signaled their successful arrival.

FA-8299 turned to a hologram hovering over the navigation console of a man in cloth uniform. “Commander, we read a good connection. We’re clear for the jump to hyperspace.”

“Very good,” the commander replied. “We are setting navigation coordinates now. Captain, congratulations on your successful mission.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The cruiser’s hatchway opened and the sound of the Star Eliminator’s activity became audible. Minor, distant booms signaled the continuing bombing run from the A2-wings, but to everyone they seemed a faint concern. The shields were more than enough to-

The entire ship rocked violently, throwing everyone off their feet or out of their seats. FN-2187 found himself grateful for his armor which took most of the impact of his fall. As he scrambled to his feet, he looked around wildly. “What was that?!”

No one responded, however FA-8299 was on her feet in an instant barking orders for a report. There was confusion as everyone tried to reorient themselves and get back into their positions.

“They got through the Absolve’s shield!” someone shouted. “Damage on the rear of the ship somewhere.”

“Did they hit the hyperdrive?!” FA-8299 asked.

“I don’t know, captain. Diagnostics are still trying to narrow down the damage.”

FA-8299 paused as she thought. Several eyes turned to her as they waited her command.

Finally, she pointed to one of the navigators. “Ready us for undocking. Seal the hatches. If the Absolve is dead in the water, we need to get away. Their fighters will come for the hangar the instant they realize the ship is stranded.”

“Yes, captain!”

FA-8299 turned to FN-2187. “Get to the gun bay. They want the charts intact, so they’re going to try and disable and board us. Be ready to defend the docking hatch.”

FN-2187 hesitated as his heart quickened. A gunfight? Where he might be-

“ _FN-2187!_ ” FA-8299 snapped, causing him to jump out of his thoughts.

He nodded in acknowledgement. “Yes, captain.” He gave her a quick salute before hurrying out of the bridge.

Explosions rocked the starboard engine of the Absolve. The four remaining A2-wings, undeterred by the ship’s turrets, turned their attention to the other engine. Though the damaged engine flickered as its power levels fluctuated, it was not enough to strand the ship completely.

The four ships formed into formation as they came around for another run. With the remaining engine in sight, a set of missiles dropped from each fighter, blue tracers following in their wake as they made to finish off their target.

They never met. Its course set and its hyperdrive still functional, if barely, the Absolve vanished into hyperspace.

FA-8299 breathed a sigh of relief. Putting her hands on the navigation console behind her, she leaned back and dropped her head. “Thank the Empress,” she muttered. The troopers around her muttered similar gratitudes.

As the adrenaline of the battle died down, she turned to the officer she had indicated before. “Open the hatches. Let’s get aboard and hand over the chip.” She grinned under her helmet. “We did it.”

“Well, technically, _I_ did it. But you all were a very competent escort, I’ll admit.”

FA-8299’s grin faded and she shut her eyes. Several tart replies vied for her lips but she held them back as she turned to the spy. “You did _your_ part,” she settled on. “Belittle my crew again however and you will finish your part in confinement.”

The spy, a human male of lithe build, bronze skin, and shiny, flowing hair shrugged his arms in confusion. “I said you all were competent. It’s a compliment.”

FA-8299 rolled her eyes, glad he could not see the gesture under her helmet. “Does everyone ignore backhanded compliments in the New Republic so liberally?”

He suppressed a smile. “If they reacted as you do, the infighting would have destroyed them in their first year. Underneath the flowery words, it’s quite a hostile environment.”

“Well, fortunate for you, Senator Dalewatcher, you won’t need to return to it after this,” FA-8299 said.

He groaned in exasperation. “No formalities, please, captain. I’m more than happy to be leaving the life of politics behind.” He sighed and turned away. “In any case, now that we are out of the jaws of death and my heart can settle, _I_ am going to get some rest. Wake me when we reach Kandael.”

The bridge doors closed behind him as he left and FA-8299 let out an annoyed breath. “Do you think anyone would be mad if we helped him sleep with some dioxis?” The crew around her laughed and she cracked a smile.

As she moved towards the viewport, the commander appeared on a hologram once again. FA-8299 turned to him in surprise. “Yes, Commander Meeve?”

“The Absolve will be dropping out of hyperspace in a few minutes. Ready your crew for an away mission, Captain.”

FA-8299 frowned. “Has there been a change in plans, sir? We are still in New Republic space.”

“The engines sustained significant damage. The hyperdrive will not carry us all the way without repairs. Fortunately, there is a nearby nowhere planet which should have the necessary supplies to do so.”

FA-8299 brought up her navigation chart and looked over their course. Her eyes dropped to the planet she assumed the commander was referring to and she nodded. “I believe you are right, sir. Very well; I will have a team assembled before we arrive.”

“Very good. Honor to order.”

“Honor to order, Commander Meeve,” she replied. The hologram went dark. A moment later, FA-8299 called through to one of the troopers in the gun bay. “FK-9200, we’re going to be making an unexpected stop. Assemble all your spare troopers and come to the bridge for briefing.”

Minutes later eleven neotroopers, all with red highlights on their white and gold armor, stepped onto the bridge in side-by-side lines. FN-2187 stood at the back as they waited for FA-8299’s instructions, uncomfortably aware of the empty space next to him even as he tried to not think about it.

“The Absolve suffered damage from the New Republic scum's fighters and will be dropping out of hyperspace for repairs. We’re stopping at the planet Jakku; it is littered with the remains of derelict Star Destroyers which should have the parts we need. We cannot ignore that the New Republic may find us while we are stranded there. You will be keeping guard over Ex-Senator Dale-watcher. If the New Republic comes for us, you are to keep the data he possesses safe at any and all costs.”

FK-9200 put his hands behind his back. “Are we looking for replacement parts as well, captain?”

“Yes. You’ll be looking for them at one of the settlements. When you have found them, report in and we will have them retrieved,” FA-8299 explained.

FK-9200 did not acknowledge the orders right away. After a pause, he asked, “May I make a recommendation, captain?”

“What is it?”

“We do not need an entire team to look for parts. I believe it would be more effective to leave most of us here on the cruiser with Senator Dalewatcher. If hostiles show up, we need to leave as quickly as possible.”

FA-8299 shook her head. “If the New Republic finds us, this cruiser will not outrun them on its own. We will signal for help in such an event. Your duty then will be to keep the Senator’s data safe and find a place to wait for reinforcements to arrive and retrieve us.”

“Understood, captain.”

The Absolve dropped out of hyperspace, the blue tunnel vanishing to be replaced by the galaxy’s starfield. Shortly ahead and growing larger as they approached floated an arid planet, its surface a mix of grays and tans with bands of gray-green lining the continents around its small, circular oceans. As the Absolve entered into orbit around Jakku, the cruiser detached and began its descent.

FN-2187 waited in the landing bay with the other ten troopers. The ex-senator sat nearby, grumbling under his breath and staring at the ceiling with an irritated glare. When the cruiser touched down and the bay opened, extending a ramp down to the ground, Dalewatcher let out an obnoxious sigh.

“Blast, it’s hot,” he said.

FK-9200 gestured to FN-2187 and another trooper. “Go ahead to the settlement and scout it out. Let’s not have any surprises.”

“Yes, sir,” they both barked and hurried down the ramp.

They had landed on a flat, shrub-filled field a short distance away from the settlement. The air was clear with few clouds save for some to the east over one of the distant oceans. Sharp cliffs surrounded the field, their rocks startlingly colorful compared to the rest of the landscape with bright, pastel bands marking each rock layer. The plant life was more gray than green, composed mostly of wide, sprawling grasses and rounded spindly bushes with tan seedpods at the end of long stalks.

The settlement was small and drab. Very few permanent structures stood; instead it mostly formed by large, clustered tents which seemed suited for little more than blocking out the searing sunlight. There was no infrastructure to speak of. The settlement was dwarfed by a sprawling scrapyard which neighbored it and seemed to have more development than the settlement itself. Thick, tall fences separated each salvager’s claims and the parts were arranged into straight rows with wide roads between them.

As FN-2187 and the other neotrooper neared the settlement, FN-2187 quickly noted most of the population was unarmed. The only arms he saw besides melee weapons built from junk belonged to guards who paid them little heed, instead remaining focused on patrolling an area where gatherers were busy sorting and cleaning their pickings.

“Nobody’s alarmed. That’s good, yeah?” FN-2187 said.

“Not that they could do anything. I don’t think their strongest weapon could damage our armor,” said FN-2199, whose voice FN-2187 now recognized.

They stopped near the center of the settlement and swiveled their heads, looking for any sign of trouble. Neither searched long and after a minute FN-2199 spoke into his com. “We’re all clear. Nothing but a bunch of rats.”


	2. The Price of Resistance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Jakku, a hot planet with few oceans and a landscape dominated by painted layers of rock and chaparral shrubbery. Decades past, the last forces of the Galactic Empire made their final stand against the Rebellion. With their defeat, the galaxy was free to rebuild itself as a new republic. But while the planets rebuilt, Jakku was left alone, its only claim to fame marked by the wreckages of old battleships. But a good scavenger never lets perfectly good scrap go to waste, and the planet has become known for its population of salvagers and scrap metal exports.
> 
> Now, with the First Order's star eliminator, the Absolve, orbiting above in desperate need of repairs, the planet's resources seem to be the perfect solution. Knowing their time is limited, the neotroopers sent to Jakku's surface hurry to secure the parts necessary to leave the system and return to the safety of First order space.

As FN-2187 and FK-9200 finished their initial observations from afar, the rest of the platoon and the ex-senator arrived. Still, despite having found nothing, FN-2187 shifted his weight from one foot to another and surveyed the scrappers. None seemed interested in the neotroopers, yet that seemed to only make him feel nervous. At least, now that they were to enter the encampment, he had his fellow troopers at his side should his worries prove justified.

FK-9200 peered over the facilities and settlers before finally pointing to a stall. “We’ll start there.”

A bulbous being sat behind the counter of the small building. With dark, featureless eyes, large sharp teeth with no lips to cover them, and thick folded skin it was a less than welcoming sight. Two scrappers stood in front of the stall with collections of metal salvage while the stall-keeper looked over each one and appraised them.

The stall-keeper spoke in another language that to FN-2187 sounded almost bouncy, perhaps because of the several “wuh” and “buh” syllables permeating it.

FK-9200 pushed past the scrappers. “We are looking for these parts. Do you have them?” He held up a palm-sized disk and several holographic images appeared.

The stall-keeper responded irately, gesturing to the scrappers that had been pushed past, waving several times for the troopers to get out of the way.

“Looking over trash is not time sensitive. This is. Do you have these parts?”

The stall-keeper banged its fist onto the countertop, this time pointing sharply to the side. Whatever it said was enough to irritate FK-9200, who pulled his rifle from its holster. He pointed it into the air rather at the stall-keeper, but it was enough to make the stall-keeper fall silent. When FK-9200 spoke next his tone was lower and his words slower. “I’m not asking now. Tell me where I can get these parts.”

The stall-keeper looked down and mumbled something. FK-9200 waited a moment before lowering his rifle and holstering. “See now, that wasn’t so hard. Now, take us to them. We need to see they’re workable.”

The stall-keeper grumbled again before reaching up and pulling down shutters. A door opened on the side and he waddled out, pointing to one of the scrap enclosures. They followed him to it.

He produced a tablet as they neared the gate and, after a few gestures on a holographic control display, it swung open. While most of the platoon followed him in, Dalewatcher was less willing.

“This place looks like it’s seething with vermin. You all have your armor, but I am not walking in there to risk Hutta Fever to window shop for trash,” he protested.

FK-9200 gave an exasperated sigh before pointing at two of the troopers. “Keep an eye on him.”

The yard was bigger than the settlement, and while most of it consisted of smaller parts set on shelves and tables there were larger pieces that had been dragged into place as well.

The stall-keeper pointed out each of the items as they passed them. A selection of compatible thermal coolant pumps, a hyperfield surge fuse, and so on. With each one, FK-9200 marked its location.

When finally the last piece had been identified, the stall-keeper led them back to the gate. It asked a question to which FK-9200 responded, “We will call for equipment to haul it.” The stall-keeper made another comment, to which he said, “Cost is no issue.”

“-is it? Where is it! YOU!!! YOU THERE!!! STOP!!!”

At the sound of Dalewatcher’s angry voice, the troopers shared a glance among each other and then broke into a run for the gate. They slowed to a stop at the scene, where Dalewatcher had grabbed one of the salvagers, a blue-skined, starry-eyed rodian by the front of his tunic. The rodian had his hands in surrender as the ex-senator shouted at him. The two troopers who had stayed behind with him appeared confused; though their guns were drawn, they were only held up partially as they stared on at the scene.

“Senator!” FK-9200 barked.

“It’s gotta be him! Look at him loitering! Where is it, rat?!” Dalewatcher shouted.

FK-9200 marched forward and grabbed him by the collar. He yelped in surprise as the trooper pulled him off the salvager who scrambled away. “ _What_ are you talking about!”

“The data chip!” Dalewatcher snapped. “It’s missing!”

FK-9200 shoved him back and the senator fell onto the ground. “What do you mean it’s _missing?!_ ”

“I had it when you went in!” the senator responded, his voice rising in pitch as he realized the potential danger he was in. “It had to have been a pickpocket! This- this vermin is the only one nearby! It has to be him!”

FK-9200 gestured his head towards the Rodian. “Search him.” He stepped towards Dalewatcher. “For everything you’ve risked and _are_ risking, spy, you should take better care of your charges.”

Dalewatcher clambered to his feet and brushed his seat off. “What about your troopers? Why didn’t they see anything?!”

One of the two shook his head. “We saw no one approach the senator, sir.”

FK-9200 pointed at Dalewatcher. “Get back to the cruiser. Search your quarters, _everything_. _Now!_ ” The senator leaped to his feet without a word and hurried away. FK-9200 gestured to one of the troopers to stay with him and then looked to the rest of the platoon. “No one leaves this settlement until the chip is found. Form a perimeter. Seal off this scrapheap!”

He unholstered his gun and fired it into the air. “This settlement is now under First Order control! If anyone tries to leave, you _will_ be shot!”

FN-2187 split off from the rest of the platoon as they hurried to the edge of the camp. His eyes scanned over the scrappers as they stood frozen, unsure what to make of the proclamation. None seemed to be trying to hide or avoid notice. Most seemed to be trying to get away from the edge of the camp.

It seemed surreal. The worst possible scenario that had not even seemed faintly possibility, and it had happened. What would happen if the chip was not found? What would happen to the platoon for such a failure? To him?

He knew who was aboard the Absolve; mercy seemed an unlikely outcome.

His comm became active as group communication turned on for the platoon.

“Captain, this is FK-9200. The chip is missing.”

“What?! What happened?!”

“Unclear. The senator suddenly found his pocket empty. Why was he carrying it in an unsealed pocket?!”

“He’s a nerf-herder, that’s why,” FA-8299 responded. “I’m contacting the Absolve. We need search parties.”

“Yes, Captain. I have the platoon guarding the perimeter. No one is leaving without us knowing.”

“Blast it all,” FA-8299 growled. The link went quiet.

The next hour passed without incident. As the sun neared the horizon, some scrappers trickled back to the camp as they returned from their day of salvaging. None tried to leave or put up a fight, fortunately.

When three shuttles arrived with the search teams, FA-8299 opened the comms again. “Well, are you ready for your day to get worse?”

“Why?”

“Kylo Ren is on the middle shuttle.”

Several swears crossed the coms channel and FN-2187 felt his blood run cold.

The shuttles landed around the camp. Their ramps opened and the neotroopers within stormed out, flooding into the settlement. FN-2187’s eyes turned to the shuttle on the opposite end of the camp from him, its ramp barely visible between the tents. He could see just enough to spot the unmistakable dark cloak of Kylo Ren.

The newly-arrived neotroopers went straight to work ransacking the camp. Alarmed shouts and cries rose from the salvagers as they were accosted. Some who struggled were quickly subdued and found rifle muffles placed against their heads.

Kylo stopped at the center of the camp. FN-2187 felt frozen looking at him. Though of moderate height and with no visible features under his cloak and mask, too many terrible stories had reached his ears about the Empress’ apprentice, particularly his temper. He was not sure if it was just his fear, but an oppressive feeling seemed to settle over the camp.

His hand began to shake and he had to take a slow, steadying breath to calm himself. “If the chip is found, everything will be fine,” he muttered.

“You can say that again,” replied one of the troopers on the comm.

Kylo Ren stood still, his head slowly turning as he surveyed the camp. As neotroopers tore apart the tents and raided the scrapyards, his attention went to the scrappers.

A shout grabbed his attention. Three neotroopers emerged from a tent, hauling an aged human man towards Kylo. They dumped him at Kylo’s feet, and he remained still in a heap, his breath shaking from age and fear.

“A Resistance informant,” one of the neotroopers said, holding out a device to Kylo. He took it and looked it over. A communicator, on the back of which was a faint but recognizable insignia, a star at the top of a spire with a semicircle wreath of flames rising up the sides.

“You must be forgotten regularly to need a token,” Kylo remarked. He placed the communicator into his robes before crouching down to bring himself eye-level with the old man. “Where are the coordinates?”

“I do not have them.” The old man’s eyes remained on the ground, his whole body visibly trembling.

“Who does?”

The old man’s trembling became worse but he did not answer.

“You know what will happen if you do not give me what I want.”

“I… have lived my life.”

Kylo studied the old man for several quiet moments. “So you have,” he said finally. He stood.

An angry, deep buzzing roared to life from his hand as a jagged, red beam burst forward. With a furious scream, Kylo brought the lightsaber up in a wild swing before bringing it down on the old man’s neck.

Several shrieks rose from the scrappers as Kylo became still, hunched over as the old man’s body collapsed. As the shocked shouts and cries died down, the growl of his saber became the only significant sound.

From where he stood, FN-2187 could see little more than the glow of the saber against Kylo’s indistinct form. One main blade projected forth and two smaller blade extended from the side of its base. When Kylo finally stood, the blade lowered to point at the ground as he looked down on the corpse before him.

A blaster fired from outside the camp. Its aim was true, and so would have been the end of Kylo Ren. His hand raised almost too fast to see, the palm stretching out to the oncoming bolt. It struck his hand only to deflect and ricochet to the side, exploding against the ground several feet behind him.

Neotroopers ran forward raising their guns. One more shot flew into the camp and struck one, the trooper collapsing to the ground as his armor disintegrated under the bolt. Before another shot could be fired, Kylo’s hand shifted and clenched into a fist. Someone yelped, the sound coming from behind a small hill some hundred meters outside the camp. FN-2187 watched in amazement and horror as the shooters body appeared, hovering in the air, their hands clutching at their throat.

When troopers reached him, Kylo’s hand dropped and the person collapsed only to be instantly seized and dragged back to the camp.

They threw him down on the ground in front of Kylo and he landed on his hands and knees. He coughed, his throat still recovering from the inescapable choke he had just experienced.

Kylo brought his saber around and let it sit a few inches away from the man’s arm. He looked up at Kylo and the two held a short silence.

The man gave one last, hoarse cough to the side. “So… who talks first?” You? Me? How’s this work?

“You took the coordinates,” Kylo stated.

“I mean, usually interrogations start with questions. I can’t imagine they get far with baseless accusations.”

Kylo’s saber retreated back into its hilt with a hiss, the growl of the uneven blade falling silent. “Search him,” he said.

The troopers lifted him from the ground, one patting him down and the other waving a detector over him. When neither found anything, Kylo turned away and began walking back to his shuttle. “Bring him. Raze the camp,” he ordered. “Leave no one.”

The next moments passed in a blur for FN-2187, only able to watch as his fellow neotroopers took position in a line before the gathered scrappers. He too found himself in the lineup, looking down on terrified faces. They were screaming, begging. Did the other troopers care? If they did, they showed no hesitation as they raised their blasters at FA-8299’s command. Did they feel any remorse for the slaughter they were about to unleash? If they did, there was no sign of it; the order fell and their fingers squeezed the triggers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally part of Chapter 1. However, its length necessitated its split.


	3. The Orphan, the Hermit, and the Droids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Rey and... her mentor?
> 
> The life of a Jakku salvager is one of searing heat, dangerous wrecks, and distrust. With food rations tied to the worth of salvage, the competition for valuable components is fierce and violent. Among the salvagers, Nenn N'ka, an old hermit known for his mysterious ways of effectively collecting salvage, teaches his ways to Rey, an orphan left on Jakku as a young child.

The morning’s light crested the distant mountains and an orange glow swept across the land. Though the air was chilled from the receding night, the light brought with it a stinging warmth which the still winds did little to mitigate.

Animal cries began to pierce the air. Chirps and howls and buzzes turned the morning into a cacophony, one which seemed to permeate every corner of the narrow valley.

To the scrap salvagers already hard at work, the light and noise signaled the end of the easiest part of their day. While the sun was hidden and the air was cool, deconstructing the remains of derelict imperial and rebel ships and weaponry was laborious but tolerable. With the arrival of the day however, soon the heat would make all but the most hardy of species desperate for shade and water.

Rey Nenn paused in her work to look back at the rising sun. She squinted as she stared, her expression unreadable under her cloth scarf and dark goggles. After a moment she turned away back to the exposed hull before her. The old rebel ship stood mostly untouched by scavengers despite the long years since its destruction.

Bringing a wedge down hard on a loose panel, Rey resumed her task. She hurried as she did, well aware of the building heat even under her shielding layers of cool clothing. As if to accentuate her urgency, her comm sparked to life. “Rey.”

She gritted her teeth as she pulled harder on the wedge. “Y… Yes?” she asked through grunts of exertion.

“We need to go.”

“I’m working on-” The panel fell loose and she staggered to keep her footing. Her safety line became taught, bringing her to a stop. With a breath of relief, Rey looked back and down. Not but two feet away was the edge of the butte, the valley floor waiting patiently far below to dash her to pieces should gravity win its fight with her.

Rey pulled herself back towards the ship. When the comm turned on again, she shut her eyes. “Here it comes,” she muttered.

“Told you.”

“Nothing happened,” she responded.

“Tethers help ensure it stays that way.”

“Did you want me to hurry or not?”

The voice at the other end, aged and deep, replied with an almost squeaky chuckle. “So get a move on.”

Rey’s grit her teeth as she reached into the open panel. Her prize was an easy grab and took little effort to detach from its housing. Once stowed safely in her bag, Rey undid her safety line and turned to the cable hanging over the side of the butte. “Coming down,” she said. She attached her safety line to the cable and hopped over the side.

She let herself freefall briefly before grabbing the cable and squeezing her hands and feet into it to slow her descent. Her gaze turned down, her motions were smooth and rehearsed as she came to a steady stop inches above the ground. It gave a gentle _thud_ under boots as she safely dropped down.

“Go get it, H6,” said the ancient man waiting for her. The black, ovaloid, single-eyed droid gave an irritated reply in its nasally voice before hovering up towards the top of the butte to retrieve the rope.

Rey walked to their speeder – a tall, narrow single-engine two-seater covered in chipped, faded red paint - as the old man watched silently. She opened the compartment and lowered her bag of collected items inside. Once it was closed, she turned to him and leaned back against the speeder. “What?” she asked.

“I said to leave the coolants.”

“They trade well.”

“They raise suspicion. If we turn those in now, Unkar is going to want to know where they came from. Every salvager will be out here tomorrow.”

“And most will give up,” Rey said. “Hanun and Lilivuh and maybe Hundi will be the only ones with a chance of getting to it.”

“They won’t ration it. You think Hanun will stop with enough for a day’s rations? He’ll strip as much as he can and gorge himself on two weeks’ worth for his dinner.”

Rey shrugged. “We don’t need to tell Unkar. He’ll get mad, but it’s not like he’s ever gotten anything from you that you didn’t want to tell him, _Nenn N’ka._ ” She grinned; the old man’s name, though for sure not his real name, meant ‘mysterious old one,’ a moniker which he both hated but refused to correct with his real name.

He had earned the name with good reason. By far the oldest person still scavenging in the field and likely the oldest even among the cleaner and refiners, Nenn N’ka’s ability to always find sufficient salvage baffled the residents of Overseer. Dark-skinned, fierce-eyed, and tall he would have been an imposing sight if not for his barely-functioning robotic right hand, the ragged bandana over his blind right eye, and the cane of welded scrap he used to keep his shuffling feet from failing him, all concealed under a tattered, junky hood and cloak. Yet despite his physical condition, finding sufficient salvage had never been an issue in his more-than-forty years of surviving the harsh planet.

Rey knew only part of his secret to surviving, and that was to keep a find hidden for as long as possible to keep it a viable source of salvage. That was not an uncommon practice; every salvager who made a new find did what they could to keep it to themselves. It was not that which baffled her and everyone else in Overseer.

Rey nodded up towards the top of the butte. “How did you find this?” she asked with a smug expression she knew he hated.

Nenn gave her a deathly stare before stepping towards his seat on the speeder. A moment later his droid, S-L3K, returned from its retrieval, its spindly hanging arms holding onto the cable she had climbed to reach their find.

Rey reached for the cable. “Thanks, Sleek,” she said. She placed it into another compartment on the speeder before climbing into the driver’s seat, Nenn already seated behind her. S-L3K hovered into a recess behind him, its limbs splaying out like a spider as it locked itself into position.

“It’s going to be hot today,” Nenn said. “There’s not much, but we’ll suffer less at the Reprimand.”

“There’s easy panels still there. I’ll grab some to patch up your roof,” Rey said as she began the speeder’s startup sequence.

“Don’t bother.”

“I’ll bother,” she replied. The speeders engine sputtered to life and the vehicle lifted off of the ground.

The landscape sped by in a blur, the knee-high shrubs slapping and scratching the speeder’s underside as they flew along. They made for a canyon that led out of the valley, its walls a myriad of thick layers of purple, pink, and blue. Steep slopes dropped away from the base of the sheer cliffs to a sandy, snaking dry riverbed, along which the speeder weaved its way through the crevasse.

A colony of small, bipedal, reptilian-like creatures with long snouts and tails perked their heads from their burrows at the sound of the speeder. From atop one of the slopes, they watched Rey and Nenn go by. For them, the sight of sapients was a memory of their ancestors long forgotten to them, and they watched in cautious curiosity at the strange beings that flew by so noisily.

The canyon widened towards the middle of their journey through it, the dry river leading into a mostly dry lakebed. Save for what was little more than a pond at its center, it too was only parched sand. Rey steered around it and kept to the edge of the lake bed, but still her eyes darted to the side and watched the sand as they went by. As before when they had first entered, a shift in the sand marked an ambush predator alerted to their presence. Perhaps annoyed at them evading its trap once again, the beast snorted up a cloud of dust before settling back into its position to await whatever foolish creature might come to slake its thirst.

The scenery on the other side of the canyon was different. As they rounded a corner leading out, they were greeted by the sight of a long-past battle. Streaks of charred land marred the rolling hills. Derelict ships dotted the landscape; imperial destroyers sat rolled on their side or broken in half, rebel battleships and cruisers pointed to the sky like leaning spires surrounded by their own debris. Most of the ships were husks now and most of their innards had been salvaged. Even their hulls had not been left untouched, and many ships now sported large, gaping sections that were little more than the frames which once held everything together.

Their destination, the crash site of the star destroyer “The Reprimand,” was one such ship. With little else of value left inside, the ship was practically just a hull, and even that was well on its way to being removed. The ship was situated on its starboard side, its underside propped up by the side of a wide cliff. Its larboard, sitting high above the ground, had all but vanished. Some of the frame remained, but as Rey and Nenn arrived at the ship they could see scavengers even now dismantling them.

They pulled to a stop and Rey shut the speeder down. A moment later, they both looked up at as someone shouted a warning and they watched as a gargantuan beam of the larboard’s frame fell away, disappearing behind the ship’s remains. A few seconds later, they heard a deep noise from its impact.

“Don’t worry about panels,” Nenn said as Rey climbed off.

She unlimbered her staff from its holster on the speeder and grabbed her salvage bag. “What, are you going to get them yourself?”

“Stubborn girl,” he muttered. He looked back at S-L3K. “Go with Rey.”

The droid detached itself from the speeder with a string of whiney words and hovered to Rey’s side. She looked down at it with a smile. “It’ll be fine. You won’t have to catch me this time.”

Being on the north side of the cliff, the Reprimand remained in shadow for most of the day. Though the air itself still became scalding as the day wore on, the safety from the sun’s glare was invaluable, and Rey found herself thankful she would not have to suffer it for most of the day.

Rey climbed across the ship’s exterior towards the dismantled area of its hull, keeping a mental checklist of the scavengers she saw as she went. Only a few were willing to collect the high-effort, low-value pieces of the hull and so it was not crowded. Still, she spotted some individuals that brought a sour expression to her face. One such was Yunro, a disheveled mud-green toydarian whose short wings gave her an advantage on ships at this stage of salvage. She was busy working at taking apart the frame with two others, Lunlun and Etz, a sibling tag team of rodians.

Though she was hoping not to run into the trio, Yunro especially, fate seemed to have other ideas. As she settled into a spot where she begin taking apart the hull, movement on the ground below her caught her eye. She almost dismissed it as some local wildlife, but its movements were too strange to be such and she turned to look closer.

It was a droid! The small machine, compromised mostly of a sphere with a domed headpiece sitting atop it, was orange and white and looked to be in too good a condition to be one of the scavenger’s droids. Of the scavengers Rey had seen, she knew none of them possessed such a droid.

She was not the only to spot it, however. Yunro spied it as well and alerted the two rodians. Working quickly, they sent cables to the ground for them to drop down as Yunro flew towards the droid.

Rey saw them begin to descend and hurried towards their cables. By the time she reached them, the trio were almost to the ground. She looked at S-L3K. “Stay close to me,” she said. The droid gave an annoyed protest but did as it was told, hovering alongside her as she slid down the cable.

When she reached the ground, the three scavengers had already thrown a net around the droid, who now called out in pleading buzzes as it tried to roll out from under its trapping.

“Hey!” Rey shouted, sprinting towards them. When they didn’t seem to hear her, she shouted again. “HEY!!!”

Yunro turned at her voice and a furious scowl crossed her face. [ _“Get lost, orphan! This is ours!”]_ she responded in toydarian.

Rey jabbed her staff in Yunro’s direction as she neared them. “No!” She pointed to the droid. “That belongs to someone else.”

The two rodians looked at Yunro and then at Rey, unsure of what to do. Yunro stared the young human down, but as Rey neared with her staff still out and looking increasingly threatening, she shook her head and spat. [ _“Let it go,”]_ she said in a low tone. As Lunlun and Etz began to remove the net, she flapped towards Rey. [ _“Someday you will learn to mind your own business, orphan,”_ ] she growled.

“Should I teach you yours?” Rey asked, aiming her staff at Yunro’s head. She bared her teeth and lowered her head as she glared at the toydarian.

[ _“Your old man won’t be around to protect you forever.”_ ]

“He’s not here now,” Rey said with a smirk.

“Who’s not?”

Rey sighed and shut her eyes before looking back to see Nenn N’ka hobbling his way towards them. “Go back to the speeder,” she said.

He did not respond as he neared them. Lunlun and Etz came up beside Yunro and the little orange and white droid hurriedly rolled to Rey’s side.

[ _“We let the droid go, Nenn N’ka,”_ ] Yunro said. [ _“There’s no fight here.”_ ]

“Glad to hear it,” he said. “As I understand you and Rey don’t like each other; we should go our separate ways before one happens.”

A tick appeared at the corner of Yunro’s mouth before she flew up over them. Lunlun and Etz walked past Rey and Nenn towards their cables, neither saying a word nor making eye contact.

“I didn’t need your help,” Rey said.

“Not for starting a fight no; you were doing just fine with that on your own.”

Rey bristled but held her tongue and instead looked down at the little droid. It peeked out from behind her leg up at her and whirred at her questioningly.

“They were just scavengers that don’t respect others,” Rey said. “You don’t belong to anyone here, do you?”

The droid’s reply, a serious of excited whirs at varying pitches, caused her to furrow her brow. “Looking for your owner. You were separated?”

“Maybe a victim to a bandit raid,” Nenn said. “I heard something about one attacking Yos Naril last night. This droid is most likely from there.”

The droid responded in affirmation.

“It says its name is BB-8,” Rey said. “And it wasn’t bandits.” She looked to Nenn. “The First Order attacked Yos Naril.”

Nenn’s expression loosened as he tried to make his face unreadable. Instead however, Rey folded her arms and looked on knowingly. “I know that face. What is it?”

“What is what?”

“You just figured something out.”

He shook his head. “Not yet. But…”

“But what?”

Nenn looked down at the droid instead. “Droid. You don’t look like you come from Jakku. Who is your master?”

Once BB-8 gave a short answer, Rey tilted her head. “It’s on a secret mission.” She smirked. “Me too.” BB-8 chirped in surprise. “Can’t tell you or it’s not a secret.”

Nenn grumbled a curse under his breath. “It’s a Resistance droid.”

Rey looked at him. “It is?”

“A droid on a secret mission and the First Order razing a settlement are not coincidence. Which means they’re looking for this droid.” He shook his head. “Leave it here, Rey. We cannot get involved.”

BB-8 yelped in surprise and rolled past Rey towards Nenn, pleading as it did.

Nenn looked at Rey for translation. His expression was unamused but also seemed warning her not to push the issue.

“It just needs somewhere to wait for its owner,” Rey said.

“An owner we do not know is even alive now. It cannot stay with us.”

BB-8 whirred in dismay, its head dome falling forward slightly.

Rey looked away from Nenn in irritation, but she knew he was right. It was not their problem, after all. She sighed and knelt down beside the droid. “Your best bet for your owner to find you is any settlement. Overseer is-”

“No,” Nenn said flatly before she could indicate its direction.

She looked at him briefly before turning back to BB-8. “Overseer is probably not safe now that Yunro saw you,” she said. She pointed to the east. “Deo Narir is the next closest. Out that way. When you get past Spine Ridge, stay out of the depressions where the sinking sand is.”

BB-8 gave a solemn nod before it began moving. It did not roll away, however; it sulked. Its head down and moving slow, it made for a pitiful sight. In an instant, Rey felt a pang in her chest as she watched it go.

She sighed and looked back at Nenn. Despite his hard expression as he watched the droid go, she could see the resignation slowly building up in him. After a few seconds he glanced to Rey. With a long release of air, he shut his eyes and turned away. “We’re going to regret this,” he muttered. “Fine.”

BB-8 perked up instantly and looked back at them. When Rey nodded for it to follow them, its excited whir was tantamount to a cheer as it sped towards them.

S-L3K responded with an annoyed grumbling and turned to follow Nenn. BB-8 rolled up next to it, looking up to the hovering droid, speaking in fast, happy whirs. S-L3K responded by pulling its hanging arms up and folding them into storage mode before speeding forward and away from the hyperactive mech. BB-8 slowed with a disappointed sound.

“Don’t worry,” Rey said as she came up alongside it. “Sleek is like that with everyone. It’s grumpy.”

S-L3K turned to float backwards, shouting a terse reply in its nasally voice.

“Yes, you are,” Rey called back.

Nenn waited until Rey was alongside him before speaking again. “The First Order will issue a bounty and Yunro will point the finger at us,” he said.

“Not if you tell her not to.”

He shook his head. “The First Order will scare her more than me. If the droid’s owner has not appeared before they come looking, we cannot resist them. We will need to turn it over.”

Rey frowned. “That doesn’t feel right.”

“It’s not,” Nenn said. “But we don’t have the resources to do what is right.” He was silent for a moment. “That does not mean the First Order will take the droid peacefully.”

“What do you mean?”

“They may shoot first and ask questions later, if ever. If it comes to that, you will need to defend yourself.”

“You’ve taught me how to do that.”

“For common brutes. But not for trained soldiers.” He pointed to their speeder. “Forget getting panels for my roof. We’re going to the cave.”

Rey stopped and blinked. “What? Right now?”

“You need to learn how to survive this.”

S-L3K stowed itself onto the speeder as Rey helped attached BB-8 to the side with cables normally used for transporting large salvage. Once secure, she got into the drivers seat and they sped away.

Up above, Yunro watched them go from her worksite. [“ _An orange and white BB unit?”_ ] she asked into her communicator.

[“ _That’s what the bounty says,”_ ] the person on the other end replied.

[ _“Nenn N’ka and the orphan have it.”_ ]


	4. Traitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The First Order's threat comes largely from its reliable and ruthless fighting force. Neotrooper soldiers are dedicated and skilled combatants, their teamwork and equipment making them exceedingly dangerous opponents on the battlefield. Beneath their faceless helmets, one could easily mistaken their effectiveness and obedience for the unquestioning nature of battle droids.
> 
> And yet, in his barracks alone, FN-2187 contemplates his future with the First Order.

FN-2187 sat on his bed. Still clad in his neotrooper armor of white, gold, and red, his helmet sat beside him looking away. The armor normally kept his body at a comfortable temperature, its environmental systems well suited for keeping him from getting too hot during physical exertion or too cold when the weather was unkind, but right now the chill that bit at his skin was beyond anything it could do.

The barracks were naturally cool; they had to be for regularly having so many bodies crammed in together. The beds were stacked three high with little space between each one to allow for movement. Such was not an issue at the moment; as far as FN-2187 knew, he was all but alone. Other neotroopers were several spaces away resting or changing their gear, but none were near or interested in him.

His stare at the floor was a vacant one, his vision unfocused and his expression absent. Too many thoughts flooded his head; none could stay in his attention long enough to be addressed before another reared up in its place.

_Massacre. Disobedience._

_Repercussions. Run. Death._

_Too many. Forever._

_Disappointment. Failure. Murderers._

_Can’t do it. Escape._

_Traitor. Evil. Wrong._

_Nightmare. Lose everything._

_Survive._

“Hey!”

FN-2187 jumped and turned his head. Standing at the foot of his bed, her helmet tucked under her arm, was FA-8299 looking down at him. He didn’t need to be sitting for that, however; FA-8299 was taller than most neotroopers by a fair margin. Her height served her well as a captain, as it naturally intimidated anyone from trying to challenge her authority. Failing that, her stare was enough to break the resolve of most. Being a chiss, her naturally red eyes made her appear considerably more imposing.

“Two-ninety-nine,” FN-2187 said, his voice catching in his throat. “Captain.” He stood up.

She stopped him from saluting with a wave of her hand. “Don’t worry about that,” she said. Her eyebrows rose as she looked at him. “You look like you’ve had a bad day.”

He looked down. “I wasn’t expecting everything that happened.”

She smiled. “You get used to it. A lot went wrong, but fortunately that wasn’t in casualties. Only two deaths is something we can recover from.”

“Only two?” The feeling of cold deepened and he shivered.

FA-8299 started to speak but paused as she read his face. “Only two of us, yes,” she said finally. “And that’s what matters. You live to fight another day for the honor of order.”

“And what…” he began but stopped. What about the civilians, he had almost said. “And what happens now?”

She leaned up against the support post of his bunkbed’s frame. “Kylo Ren did some of his mystical stuff, so we know the coordinates are with a droid on the planet’s surface. Now we just wait for word of someone finding it.”

“And then we get it and leave and we’re done, right?”

She shrugged. “With everything that’s gone wrong so far, I get the feeling it won’t be that simple. But if we’re lucky, then yes.” She fell silent as if waiting for him to say something in reply. When he didn’t, she let out a long breath. “Listen, FN: I wanted to check on you, but I didn’t come just for that.”

The cold gripped him tighter, his every limb feeling as if his bones had turned to ice. “What is it?” he asked.

“FK-9200 said some… concerning things. I need you to turn in your blaster for inspection.”

He tried to keep his face expressionless. “Oh. I, uh… I guess I can do that.” He pointed towards the door. “I’ll go get it from the armory.”

She nodded. “Meet me at Commander Meeve’s office. I have a meeting with him, but after that we can get this over with.”

“Yes, captain,” FN-2187 replied. As she turned to leave, after a moment’s hesitation he blurted out, “Honor to order!”

“Yeah,” she responded as she put on her helmet.

Once she vanished he stood up from his bed. It would be close, but he had time.

Time to leave the First Order.

It was easier said than done he knew, but he had a general idea of how to make it out. It relied on one – or rather, several, but one in particular – thing going right however, and if he was going to do it, he had to do it now.

As he exited the barracks, FN-2187 put on his helmet and marched for his destination. FA-8299 had provided him with more information than he had expected he would get from anyone; he hoped she wouldn’t be punished for it. But she had said Kylo Ren had completed his interrogation of the Resistance prisoner, which meant…

Kylo Ren was nowhere to be found at the interrogation chamber. Two neotroopers stood guard outside the door, but otherwise the way was clear.

FN-2187 took a steeling breath before approaching the neotroopers. “I’m to take the prisoner to his holding cell.”

“Good,” the trooper to the right of the door replied. “I’m tired of standing here.” He gestured behind him through the door. “Need any help? He’s going to have a hard time walking on his own.”

“If he wants to make it to his cell alive, he _will_ walk on his own,” FN-2187 said. He really hoped he sounded convincing.

The left trooper stepped away without a word, satisfied. The right trooper clapped FN-2187’s shoulder. “Good. Don’t go easy on this scum.” He followed after the left trooper.

He stepped into the interrogation room, trying to do so as casually as he could. The resistance spy was on a table slanted at an angle, his head and limbs braced to it. The table was a gruel-looking device, arms sprouting from its backside all with some horrific tool at their ends.

The spy certainly did not look to be in good health. He was conscious but his gaze was distant. Ugly, dark bruises peppered his face and dried blood streamed down the left side of his face from a large cut above his eyebrow.

FN-2187 shut the door behind him and took off his helmet before moving to the spy’s side. “Hey, hey buddy!” he whispered. “You awake? Come on, we gotta go.”

The spy’s eyes rolled towards FN-2187. “Who… Who are you?” he asked, his voice raspy.

“Doesn’t matter. But if you want to get out of here alive, you need to come with me.”

The glaze in his eyes seemed to fade as his brow furrowed. “Wait, this is a rescue?”

“Yeah.” The first of the spy’s restraints came undone, freeing his head. “We need to move fast before I’m missed. Can you walk?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” The restraints came off the spy’s hands and he pulled them up to his chest. He looked around as he nursed his bruised wrists. “Is my gun here?”

“They would’ve taken it to the armory. We don’t have time.”

The spy’s legstraps came undone and he slid off the table. His footing was unsteady as he held himself up and he winced as his bruises made themselves known. “What’s the plan?”

“We’ll take a fighter from the hangar,” FN-2187 said. “It’s got a light hyperdrive.”

“That won’t get us far,” the spy said. “Just enough to get us to the next system, but we’ll need fuel or a new ship to go further.”

“That’s better than here,” FN-2187 said. He stepped towards the door. “Ready?”

“Wait, wait.” The spy turned FN-2187 around to face him. “Why are you helping me?”

“I’m a dead man if I stay. And I don’t want to be here anymore anyway; I want to do the right thing. And I got a wakeup call that I wasn’t doing that.”

“Could’ve gone without me,” the spy said. His eyes narrowed and then a smirk came to his face. “You don’t know how to fly. You need a pilot.”

FN-2187 blinked. “Okay, yeah, I need a pilot.” He pointed a finger at the spy’s face. “But I stand by all that other stuff too.” He put his helmet back on. “Come on. We need to go.”

He opened the door and the spy went ahead of him, holding his arms behind him as if he were cuffed. FN-2187 stayed close with his hand on the spy’s collar.

The spy put on an act of looking tired and sluggish and FN-2187 occasionally gave him a shove. Neotroopers and officers paid them little heed as they made their way through the ship. With everyone occupied by their own tasks, a trooper transporting a prisoner was of no importance to them.

They were stopped as they came to a lift. Waiting for it to arrive made FN-2187’s heart pound, his eyes darting about underneath his helmet as he watched for any lingering gaze that might indicate someone was suspicious of them.

The lift opened. FN-2187 took a step forward and then froze. It was not empty; one person was already riding it. And FA-8299 seemed just as surprised as him.

The moment that passed seemed an eternity as the two stared at each other. Hundreds of thoughts shot through FN-2187’s head, each a plan he knew was doomed to fail before it had even completed. It was over.

FA-8299’s head turned ever so slightly as she looked about FN-2187 and the spy. But the accusation and alarm never came; instead, she gestured subtly with her hand for them to get on.

With no other choice, FN-2187 pushed the spy onto the lift. Once the chamber locked, he looked at FA-8299.

“Captain, I can-”

“When you reach the hangar floor, you will have stunned me. Take the long way so that it looks like you’re going to the escape pods. You will have ten seconds head start before I come to my senses and sound an alarm,” FA-8299 said, her voice stern. “That’s the best I can give you.”

His jaw fell open. “Wh-”

“Don’t ask.”

The spy looked back at FN-2187. “Can we trust her?”

Could he? None of this made sense to him; FA-8299 had no reason to help him. But she was his better in combat by an order of magnitude and if she wanted to subdue them there was little he could do. He gave a hasty nod. “Yes.”

The lift slowed to a stop and FA-8299 slumped down to the floor of the lift. “Good luck,” she said. “Now run.”

The door opened and the two escapees broke into a sprint. FN-2187 ran ahead and did as FA-8299 said, turning towards the escape pods rather than the hangar. It was risky, but he had an idea what she was planning and how to work with it.

“Friend of yours?” the spy asked.

“My captain,” FN-2187 answered. “I don’t kn-”

The alarm blared through the halls and any further conversation was silenced. The spy seemed unbothered by his injuries, keeping alongside FN-2187 at full sprint. Unarmed as they were, they knew their only shot at survival was getting to the hangar and escaping as fast as possible.

For this, the alarm’s unexpectedness benefitted them; troopers all across the Absolve hesitated at its sound, unsure of what it meant. It was not until an announcement was broadcast across their comms of a traitor and escaped prisoner making for the escape pods that they mobilized in earnest.

The few seconds the hesitation bought FN-2187 and the spy were enough for them to change their course for the hangar. Their way was not entirely clear however; as neotroopers on the floor converged on the escape pods, FN-2187 realized there was a gun bay ahead. Spotting a door to an office, he led the spy to it and they ducked inside. A second later, footsteps rounded a corner as the neotroopers who had been in the gun bay hurried to intercept the escapees.

The pause was the only rest they received. Once the troopers went by, the spy began to move to continue towards the hangar. FN-2187 reached out automatically and stopped him; a moment later three more troopers lagging behind the first group hurried past.

“Good catch,” the spy said.

“Thanks,” FN-2187 replied. Their way clear, the two broke from their hiding place.

“How are you at computers?” the spy asked.

“I’m alright. Why?”

“O-NE fighters can be overridden and shut down. I need you to keep that from happening or we’re not getting far.”

The hangar floor was alive with activity. The two stopped as they came to the door leading to it.

“Blast,” the spy said. “We’ll be shot before we’re halfway to a ship.”

FN-2187 looked up to the ceiling. Another risky idea came to him, but he knew the spy was right. It was the only way. “This way, then.” He turned and led them to a recess a short way behind them, in which was a narrow ladder leading up into the roof. A hatch was sealed across the shaft, but taking a gamble that FA-8299 had not revealed he was the turncoat, he brought his armguard to the scanner beside it. A second later it turned green and the hatch opened.

“We have to move fast,” he said as they scurried up the ladder. “It won’t take them long to realize what we’re doing.”

“What _are_ we doing?”

“The ships on the floor are either being maintained or are first-response fighters. The hangars are not big enough to hold an entire Eliminator’s fleet of fighters, so all the rest of the ships are stored above.”

“Won’t those be clamped down?”

“If we get there in time,” FN-2187 said as they reached the top of the ladder, “I have authorization to get us undocked.”

The catwalks above the hangar were narrow and their metal frames rattled under their feet as they hurried towards the nearest docked O-NE fighter. The airfoil-shaped body sat silent and dark, its bottom-mounted rectangular wings folded up against its sides and a clamp holding securely onto its tall, half-octagon dorsal fin-like engine. The front viewport was swung open to reveal a front pilot’s seat and a swiveling gunner’s seat behind it.

The spy jumped into the pilot’s seat and FN-2187 into the gunner’s seat, removing his helmet as he did. FN-2187 unlatched his armguard from his armor and handed it to the spy. “Put this against the scanner when I say to. That’ll turn on the ship and get us undocked” He turned his chair around and reached up to a panel above him. “If they haven’t locked me out,” he muttered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing!” He undid the panel and began pulling wires down. “You were right about the override. I didn’t even think about it.”

“Can you remove it?”

“Oh yeah!” he responded, hoping he sounded confident. “Done it loads of time!”

“Wait what?”

“Joking. I’ve never done this before in my life.” His eyes darted across the wires and systems within the panel. After a second of study he retrieved his combat knife from his utility belt and cut three of the wires before tying two of them together and leaving the third hanging. “Go!”

The spy put the armguard to the scanner. The two held their breath in the instant that followed, and when the system lit up green it burst out of them in a monumental sigh of relief.

The viewport closed over them as the controls lit up and the oscillating neutron engine began to whine. The clamp released and the ship began to descend… only to lurch violently a second later.

“What’s going on?” the spy shouted.

“Awh come on!” FN-2187 exclaimed. “I forgot the fuel line!”

“Can you detach it from here?!”

“No, you gotta do it!”

“How?!”

The ship’s unauthorized awakening and movement had not gone unnoticed and several troopers below looked up at the tilted ship. In the dispatch center overlooking the hangar, Commander Meeve turned in alarm at the sound of the ship’s slamming against its restraints.

“Sir!” A hologram appeared before him of a neotrooper. “The escapees are not at the pods!”

“They’re trying to steal a ship! Get an anti-air gun here now!” The hologram faded and he looked to one of the controllers. “Who unlocked the ship?”

“The ID belongs to FN-2187.”

The number was familiar and he frowned. “Get that ship locked down.”

“The override has been disconnected.”

Above in the ship, the spy rapidly punched in commands and flipped switches at FN-2187’s guidance. He grit his teeth, wondering why so many actions had to be done to simply disconnect a fuel line. When finally it came undone, the ship jolted downwards. He stabilized it before they hit the hangar floor. Free of the restraints, he turned the ship around until they faced the exit before gunning the engine.

The ship rocketed out, passing through the forcefield separating the hangar from the empty vacuum of space and then dropping down from the docking alley running the length of the Star Eliminator’s underside.

The two cheered as they sped away. The hardest part done, a wave of relief washed over them.

“That was awesome, man!” the spy said. “Hey, what do I call you?”

“I’m FN-2187,” he replied even as he turned his seat to look back towards the Absolve through the narrow viewport which encircled the ship’s hull.

“FN-2 what? That’s a number.”

“Yeah, that’s the name they gave me.”

“I can’t call you a number.”

“It’s all I’ve got.” FN-2187 grabbed his controls. “Here comes the pursuit. I count eight… no, ten.”

“That’s it?” The spy laughed. “This’ll be easy!” He looked to his console, watching the radar as the oncoming ships began firing. He began swerving, keeping his movement erratic and unpredictable. Behind him, FN-2187 returned fire with the single, swiveling turret atop the ship’s dorsal engine.

“Okay, I’m not calling you a bunch of numbers,” the spy said, his voice almost calm. “FN… I’m calling you Finn. How’s that?”

“Finn?!” FN-2187 shouted. He paused, his thoughts half mulling over the name even as he concentrated on trying to aim despite the spy’s wild movements, his tongue pinched between his teeth as he did. A name a not a number; of all the things that would seem important, that had not been one he had considered. FN. Finn. Close but not the same. There were thousands of FNs in the First Order, but Finn was unique. He would be the only Finn.

Finally he nodded. “Yeah. Yeah! Finn’s good!” One of his shots hit its mark, disintegrating the right wing of an O-NE fighter and he watched as it began a wild spiral. For a moment, a thought split across his mind for the pilot. Were they dead?

He shook his head and refocused on the other ships, continuing his returned fire. “What about you? What’s your name?” he called back.

“I’m Poe Dameron,” the spy replied. “Nice to meet you, Finn!”

“Nice to meet you too!”

Finn struck another ship, but the hit was more direct and it exploded instantly. There was no question that time; he had killed that pilot. His teeth bit together painfully as he tried not to think about it; they were going to kill him, he had no choice.

“What’s the system you said we could reach?” Finn asked, trying to take his mind off the matter.

“Idin,” Poe answered. “But we’re not going there yet.”

“What?! Why not?”

“I have to get my droid. He’s on Jakku.”

“What?! A droid?! That’s not-”

“He’s got the coordinates to Luke Skywalker. If the First Order-”

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” Finn’s face contorted in frustration as he shot down another ship.

“I can’t make the jump to hyperspace anyway while those guys are on our tail,” Poe said. “We’re clear of the Eliminator’s guns; I’m going to engage and help finish them off. Looping up in two.”

He pulled the ship up into a loop, spinning to level out with the oncoming fighters. With them now ahead, Poe began firing the forward-mounted guns even as Finn turned his turret to keep his onslaught up.

Poe’s flying was nothing like Finn had ever witnessed. He performed maneuvers that should not have been possible for the O-NE fighter, turning it about in an instant by shutting down the engine before reengaging and rocketing in the other direction. The swivel turrets on the other fighters meant the laser-fire never let up, but the out-maneuvering was enough to give Poe or Finn an easier shot each time, and before long the pursuant fighters had fallen to three.

It was than that finally a shot struck Poe and Finn’s ship, the bolt tearing through the dorsal engine and the left wing. The engine crackled and the ship began to veer, but the hit did not destroy them completely.

“I got her, I got her!” Poe shouted as he pulled on the throttle in a desperate attempt to regain control. The ship shuddered as he fought it.

Finn struck down another fighter. But with the ship on a straight course without Poe’s evasive maneuvering, the remaining two O-NE fighters fell in behind them and began barraging them. Laser bolts sizzled by them, barely missing. Another fighter disintegrated as Finn landed enough shot, sweat streaming down his face as he aimed for the final fighter.

Their shots hit at the same time, Finn’s knocking his opponent’s dorsal engine off completely and the pursuer’s shot tearing a hole into Poe and Finn’s ship’s underside.

Poe managed to aim the ship for Jakku before the controls gave out. Now in freefall, they tumbled uncontrollably towards the planet’s surface. Finn hollered in terror behind him, but he himself was unable to make a noise as he watched the planet’s surface growing larger in his viewport. His fingers gripped into his seat, his knuckles turning white from the exertion.

As they hit the atmosphere, their tumbling became worse, the ship spinning like a top as it plummeted. The forces threw them about even as blood drained from their heads. Darkness clouded their vision as the world faded away. Finally, Finn fell silent and Poe’s death grip relaxed as unconsciousness took them.

The O-NE fighter’s wreckage fell as a raging ball of fire. It spun through the air, indistinguishable from a hunk of scrap now, leaving a black trail of smoke in its wake. As it drew ever closer to its final demise however, its spinning slowed. Though still hurtling downwards, erratic forces no longer tossed the two escapees about. As their hearts naturally returned blood to their brains, the dark fog of sleep began to lift.

Poe’s head pounded; the agony was blinding. What was happening? Where was he? His memory only drew a blank. Wincing, he opened his eyes to see the world nearly upon them. His eyes flew wide as panic and adrenaline set in, and instinctively he grasped the controls and pulled back to level out the ship. By some miracle, it seemed some system had restored itself and the ship began to pull up. He tried to brake, but nothing responded, nor did any controls for lateral steering. With only the vertical pitch to go by, he kept up his attempt to level off.

It was not enough to stop the crash, but it was enough to save them from a meteor-like impact. As the ship’s course flattened, a rocky hill rose up before them. They struck its top and both Poe and Finn were thrown forward violently as they momentarily slowed. The ship skidded across the ground before the hill fell away, once more leaving them in freefall. The ship rolled backwards before hitting the ground below, lurching forward and digging its nose into the hard soil.

When finally they came to a stop, a mound of earth had built up before the ship higher than a person stood, and behind them a scorched track marked their path. Flames lined the groove, even as parts on the fighter itself burst into sparks and produced small fires.

Poe’s hearing rang; the crash had been far louder than anything he had ever experienced. Briefly, he wondered how long it would be before his hearing would return. Then elation and relief swept over him as the full realization struck him: they made it. They survived.

Or did they? With his ears in such a state he could not tell if Finn was still alive behind him. He began to turn, only to give a yelp of pain as a fiery dagger seemed to pierce the right side of his chest. His left hand went to the pain; nothing had punctured him, and when looked at his fingers he saw no blood. A broken rib then, he figured. His breathing seemed fine, so it had most likely not punctured a lung.

He turned the other way and rib protested still but not as severely as before. His neck joined in on the complaints but he ignored them both.

Finn was indeed alive; his body pressed into the back of his seat, his hands gripping tight onto his harness, his mouth was moving in what Poe could only guess was a string of swears and expletives. Finn’s gaze was on the ceiling but after a few seconds of his panicked rambling he looked down to see Poe staring back at him. His eyes widened and his mouth stopped, a visible sigh leaving his body.

He said something but Poe shook his head, pointing to his ears. “Ringing,” he said, his voice barely a muffle to himself. Finn nodded; it seemed his hearing had recovered, at least. “Are you hurt?” Poe asked.

Finn nodded, his face contorting, but at the same time he gave Poe a thumb’s up. Poe took that to mean he was hurt but okay. “Then let’s get out of here.”


	5. Priorities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the successful escape of Finn and Poe, the command of the Absolve regroup and commit to their next course of action.

When Kylo Ren stepped onto the Absolve’s bridge, few seemed to notice. With the ship still undergoing repairs as pieces were brought up from Jakku, most of the crew was unneeded and elsewhere, and what few were still present were those responsible for monitoring the ship and its surroundings. Their attention was on the monitors and scanners they were assigned to.

The only few who noticed were the four individuals standing by the central display who had been expecting him. Commander Meeve, his first officer, a neotrooper captain, and the ex-Senator Dalewatcher.

“What happened?” Kylo asked as he neared them.

The neotrooper captain, FA-8299, straightened her posture as she stood at attention. “One of our own turned against us, sir. He escaped with the Resistance prisoner.” Her head bowed slightly. “I’m ashamed to admit it was one of my own.”

Kylo was silent as he stared at the neotrooper. A flicker of irritation passed through him and for a brief moment he pictured running his blade through the failure. “You are honest,” he said, his voice tight.

“Responsible, sir,” she replied. “I will see to it my mistake is amended and have both escapees returned.”

“The prisoner you can kill,” Kylo said. “He has nothing more of use to us. The trooper will be made an example of.”

She nodded. “Yes, sir.” She turned to the central display and gestured to it, bringing up a holographic image of Jakku. Red indicators marked a large section of the planet’s southern hemisphere. “I have already begun my search. The stolen fighter crashed on the far side of the planet, so we were not able to track its descent. I have a reconnaissance team on their way to find it and ascertain if the escapees survived. If they did, we will find them.”

Kylo turned his head slightly towards FA-8299. “You have doubts, captain.”

“Sir?”

“Something has made you nervous. Uncertain.”

He reached his hand out towards her. For a moment she leaned away before suppressing the impulse to evade him. His hand stopped well before reaching her, but a moment later she recoiled as she felt a squeezing, stabbing sensation within her head. Emotions and memories long since buried were pulled to the surface of her mind. The surge threatened to take her consciousness away from the present moment and she had to concentrate to keep from losing herself in it.

When finally it passed, she did not know how much time had come and gone, but a quick glance at the clock on her visor’s display showed it had only been a few seconds. She gasped as the tension of her efforts to remain lucid released itself and she grabbed onto the side of the display to keep from collapsing entirely.

“FN-2187. You were close to him.”

She nodded. “Y… yes, sir. We were in basic and intermediate training together.”

“Was it there you were taught to betray your oath?” There was a hint of amusement to his voice.

“I do not know what turned him, sir,” FA-8299 answered. “He was and is an excitable soldier who never wanted anything more than to prove himself.”

“And yet he could not even follow an order to fire his weapon.”

She straightened as she finally caught her breath. “No, sir. He did not.”

“He should have been imprisoned for his disobedience.”

“I did not believe he had disobeyed,” FA-8299 said. “FN-2187 has never given reason to suspect he is anything but loyal. The trooper who made the report, FK-9200, fights with his teammates often, and so I mistakenly judged his report was exaggerated. I will not make that mistake again.”

Kylo turned his gaze from FA-8299 to the other three present. “This entire mission has proven we know very well how to take defeat from the jaws of victory. The Empress will not be pleased.”

Dalewatcher raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “It’s a shame, really. I was told this ship and its crew were of the First Order’s finest. Yet this comedy of err-”

The ex-Senator’s words devolved into a gurgle. His eyes bulged and his hands clutched at his throat. Kylo, his hand outstretched and his head lowered, then lifted the ex-Senator so that his toes barely touched the floor.

Commander Meeve raised his hand towards Kylo. “Sir, let-“

He was unable to finish. A flash of red marked the ignition of Kylo’s lightsaber. Before anyone else could react, the blade flew forward, embedding itself deep into Dalewatcher’s chest. The ex-senator’s panicked motions froze and his gasps fell silent. His hands remained at his throat briefly before his arms went limp and his head rolled forward. Kylo pulled back his blade and then, spinning about, threw his hand forward. Dalewatcher’s corpse flew through the air before striking the ground with a sickening thud and rolling. His body came to a stop at the entrance, the doors sliding open automatically at his approaching corpse.

Kylo stood hunched over, his whole body shaking. “Find those coordinates and the traitor,” he said, his voice level but tense. “I will tolerate no further mistakes.” He straightened himself, his lightsaber switching off as he did, and turned his head to look back at the other three. “Anything else?”

It took FA-8299 an instant to recover from her shock before she put her hands behind her back in an attention pose. “No, sir. I will see both returned to us.”

Kylo said nothing further as he plodded away, his footsteps heavy under his anger. FA-8299, Commander Meeve, and the first officer all waited until he was out of sight before looking to each other. The first officer was notably pale, more so than usual

“I had heard…” he began but trailed off.

“And you heard correctly,” Commander Meeve said. When the first officer looked at him in surprise, he waved his hand. “But now is not the time or place to speak plainly of Kylo Ren.” He looked to one of the flight officers who had tried to remain focused on her work despite the violent scene. “Call for cleanup.” He gestured to Dalewatcher’s body before turning back to the center console. He stared at it vacantly before looking to FA-8299. “Captain, it is imperative you nor your troops make any mistakes.”

“I understand, sir,” she replied. She paused as she thought. “I will have a shuttle and a team of fighters deploy to the planet’s far side. When the reconnaissance team locates FN-2187, they can move in sooner.”

“Very good, captain,” Meeve replied. “Best of luck to you. Honor to order. Dismissed.”

FA-8299 saluted. “Honor to order,” she responded.

Meeve waited until she left. “Officer Oans, move the ship onto raised alert.”

“Yes, sir. They’ll be here soon, won’t they.”

Meeve nodded. “The Resistance spy came alone because he was the nearest. But by now they’ve surely realized he was not successful. We must have the ship repaired, the traitor captured, and the coordinates retrieved before then, but I doubt that will happen.”

“I agree, sir. I will have our fighters, shields, and cannons ready.” He looked down. “Should we call for reinforcements?”

Meeve shook his head. “The Resistance will not waste time mustering a large force; the urgency of this matter to them won’t allow it.” He brought up a planetary display on the console. “The nearest New Republic planet is Rattatak. It does not have a large Resistance force; in a normal fight, the Absolve would be sufficient to combat them. But it will not take a large force to retrieve the spy and the coordinates.”

The officer frowned. “Then they would only need to harass us until both are retrieved. They would not need to assault us outright.” He thought for a moment. “Unless we forced them to.”

“You have an idea?”

Oans smiled. “I believe so, sir.”

-*-*-*-

A silver protocol droid stood outside Kylo Ren’s quarters as he approached. With a long face, yellow eyes, and a well-polished exterior with elaborate designs stenciled across its surface, the droid was considerably more sophisticated than any military droids elsewhere on the ship. Kylo straightened his posture as he neared it.

“You have news for me, Y-N4V?” he asked.

“Yes, sir,” the droid replied, bowing slightly. “The Empress requests an update.”

“Fine.” He turned to his quarters and entered, the droid following behind him. Once the doors shut, he turned to it and put his hands behind his back. “Begin transmission.”

A cylindrical piece extended from atop Y-N4V’s head. The mechanism inside it began to glow and spin. As it warmed up, hatches flipped open on its shoulder pads from which spherical mechanisms extended, which likewise began to glow and spin.

Y-N4V faded away and the room began to change around Kylo as a new scene was overlaid onto it. In a moment, Kylo found himself standing in a high-ceilinged chamber. Warm sunlight beamed in from tall, narrow windows onto the maze-like network of fountains and water channels which weaved their way about the chamber. Kylo stood at the center of it where the channels circled around a space not much larger than his room on the Absolve. At the center was a multi-tiered, circular fountain. At its top was a red, metal sculpture of the First Order’s symbol, a hexagon with a circular, hollowed-out center, from the edges of which pointed spokes pointed towards the center.

Kylo was not alone by the fountain. Behind him, a droid similar to Y-N4V stood with its shoulder hatches open, projecting an image of him for the other person there to see. She was dressed in a black, glistening robe, on the front of which was a wing-like insignia that extended to up and over her shoulders. A red, diamond-shaped symbol sat atop the center of the wings.

The empress’s hood was up but did not conceal her pale-blue, pointed face. Though not visible, her two tail-like lekku extending from her skull filled out the back of her hood. Her eyes, piercing and golden, settled on Kylo as his image manifested in front of her, and a pleasant smile came to her face.

“Hello, child.”

He bowed his head to her. “Empress Zaara.”

“I understand you are busy,” she said. “So I will keep this brief. You will not be returning to Kandael when your mission is complete.”

“Where do you wish I go?”

She turned to the fountain. “Starkiller’s sun is nearly revived. When it is, our standing forces will have to ready themselves for the resumption of the campaign. I want you there to oversee it.”

Kylo lowered his head slightly. When he did not responded immediately, Zaara put on a sympathetic face. “I would not want you there if I thought the move might fail.”

“I do not doubt you,” Kylo replied. “But I think my time would better serve you elsewhere.”

Her smile weakened. “My teacher says otherwise. There has been a disturbance in the Force.”

Kylo tilted his head. “I have felt nothing.”

“Nor I,” Zaara said. “But the flow of destiny has changed, and its new course runs through Starkiller.” She nodded. “I believe it is important you are there.”

“If it is your will, then I will be,” Kylo said. He turned his head. “Did he say anything else?”

“No,” Zaara said. “He seemed… intrigued, but he could not explain it. His vision showed only that you must be there.”

“Then I will not fail you.”

“I know you won’t, child,” Zaara said. “You’re too strong. Too fierce. You personify the dark side well.” She moved as if to reach out to him but stopped, instead placing her sleeves together in front of her. “What troubles you?”

Kylo lowered his gaze. “I am surrounded by incompetence. One mistake after another.” He let out a heated breath. “The ex-senator lost the coordinates.”

The Empress remained still as she looked him over. “That is a grave mistake.”

“For which he paid with his life. For now, the coordinates are not in the hands of the Resistance. We captured the spy who took them, and while he has hidden them it is only a matter of time before we regain them.”

“And yet?”

Kylo grit his teeth and turned his head to the side. “And yet the spy escaped with a defecting trooper.” His hands clenched into fists, the leather gloves emitting a low groanunder the pressure.

Zaara turned towards the central fountain. “The coordinates are more important,” she said. “Focus your efforts on retrieving them solely. If the prisoner and defector should be encountered, you may make an example of them. But do not waste resources searching for them.”

“The traitor cannot be allowed to get away with his crimes!” Kylo shouted. “The First Order has a standard we cannot forgive being broken!” He pointed to Zaara. “He insults you! He insults your empire!”

Zaara put her head back and laughed. “Kylo, calm yourself,” she said with a sharp grin. “I have suffered far greater insults. This hardly qualifies.” She waved a hand dismissively. “The destruction of Skywalker and the Jedi is far more important than my pride.”

“But-”

Zaara raised her palm to him and he fell silent. “When the New Republic has fallen, there will be nowhere for traitors to hide. His punishment will come.” She placed her sleeves together again. “Or is the traitor’s insolence a greater concern than your old master’s wrongs?”

Kylo did not respond immediately. He knew his answer, but his anger was not so easily settled.

Zaara smiled gently. “After what he did to you, what he attempted to do to you, I would see Skywalker suffer first. Secure the coordinates, and when the Jedi are no more, you may seek out the traitor.”

Kylo’s fists tightened further, but finally he nodded slowly. “Yes, Empress.”

Zaara sat down on the edge of the central fountain. She produced a packet of feed from within her robes and sprinkled some of its contents across the water’s surface. Numerous aquatic creatures, their long writhing bodies propelled by two long fins undulating together, swam from the far side of the fountain to grab at the meal. Zaara watched them for several seconds before looking back to Kylo. “I will keep you no longer, child. You have much to do. And I am curious to what you will find at Starkiller.”

Kylo bowed his head to her. “I will send word when I have arrived there.”

The scene faded around him as Y-N4V reappeared and shut off its projectors. His dim room returned and he stood still for several moments.

When he moved, it was with blinding speed. His lightsaber ignited in his hand and swung in a wide arc. The beam struck the wall of his room, leaving a glowing gash in its wake. He struck again, bellowing in rage as sparks flew and illuminated the room. His blade marred the wall several more times. In one wild strike, the end of his blade flew through the right arm of Y-N4V. The droid backed away but did not otherwise protest or cry out, standing clear only so that it could receive further instruction after the rage of its master had quieted.

Finally, the entire wall in front of Kylo scorched, slashed, and sparking, he stopped his rabid strikes. Breathing heavily, he shut off his blade and put it back on his belt. He straightened his posture and looked to Y-N4V. “Have someone replace this. Then get a new arm.”

“Yes, sir,” the droid replied. It turned and left.

Kylo remained still a moment longer. The thought of the traitor was enough to nearly send him flying into a rage again, but the Empress’ wishes were clear. Until fate gave him the chance, he would have to forget the traitor and escaped prisoner until a later time. She was right, after all; his old master’s crimes against him were more important to punish. And with that in mind, he exited the room.

An eye peered through one of the gashes in the wall. The First Order officer in the neighboring room shook in fear; he had simply been sleeping when the blade came burning through the wall. “I’m getting another room,” he muttered.


	6. Echoes of Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danger looms on the horizon and Nenn N'ka brings light to old truths, so that Rey might survive it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter I finished prior to joining AO3. Updates will occur as I finish further chapters from here on. Thank you for reading this far!

“What is different about fighting soldiers?” Rey asked as she followed Nenn N’ka up the narrow, rocky path. The slope leading to the sheer cliff was steep and composed mostly of large boulders protruding from hard dirt which slid out from under climbers with ease.

“Patience,” Nenn replied. He paused for a moment. “Patience as in: wait to see. Patience is not the difference in fighting soldiers.”

“Yeah, I got that.”

Like with everything else he had ever found, Rey wondered how Nenn had come across this path and the cave at its end. The box canyon they were at the end of was far from any salvage sites and there was nothing nearby to draw in curious salvagers. It would not have been something he would have come across while collecting scrap. But even if he had intentionally set out to find some secluded space away from prying eyes, she could not imagine how he had found this particular cave.

The walls of the canyon were, like everywhere else, composed of colored bands of rock layers. However, where those out by the salvage were mostly pastel colors of bright blues, purples, and greens, the colors here were darker. Deep reds, burnt oranges, and ashen yellows painted the landscape here. To Rey, it reminded her of the embers of a dying campfire.

Whatever gave the rocks their color also made them more treacherous; the boulders crumbled and were always covered in a fine layer of dust as they eroded away. What might appear to be a stable surface could easily break away under one’s foot. The dust slipped easily, and even on flat ground made it difficult to maintain one’s footing.

The canyon itself was almost impossible to find. Its entrance was concealed in a cliff that looked out over one of Jakku’s many chaparral valleys. A small cavern, easy to miss even when up close, cut through the mountain before opening onto Nenn’s hidden canyon. At the far end, up the steep, hazardous slope they now made their way up, was a cave just as difficult to see as the entrance cavern. The path he had made to it, while almost indistinguishable from the rest of the rock, was the only safe way up that did not risk collapse or losing one’s feet and sliding quite painfully to the bottom.

The cave’s entrance was a tall, narrow opening. Light could only bleed in so far before darkness became all-consuming. As Nenn stepped in, he produced a lamp from his cloak. It took a moment of fiddling with it, eventually having to smack it into the cavern wall, but eventually the lamp began to glow, lighting just enough of the surrounding area that they could navigate.

Nenn pointed to BB-8 and S-L3K. “Wait outside. Alert us if anyone approaches.”

BB-8 whirred in acknowledgement and S-L3K grumbled. They moved to the side for Rey to pass and then stationed themselves on either side of the cave’s opening.

Rey unslung her pouch from her shoulder as they reached the widest point of the cave where they normally trained. However, this time Nenn did not stop. “We’re going deeper,” he said.

Rey furrowed her brow. “Deeper where? The cave ends-” She stopped as Nenn ducked down into a hole hidden in the wall towards the back. She stared at the spot he had disappeared, an incredulous expression on her face. Years of training here and she had never found it despite being less than thirty feet away.

She picked up her bag and followed after him. The opening was a tighter fit and she could not stand up straight. At many points she had to squeeze through points almost too narrow to pass through.

“What is back here?” she asked. She could barely make out Nenn; the tight space allowed very little of the lamp’s light to get by him. Between that and the weaving path of the passage, she often lost sight of him completely and had to navigate through the pitch darkness before catching up to him and the light. The darkness was stifling and the encroaching walls felt as if they were closing in. She wanted to hold her breath and panic, but she resisted the feeling. She knew the cave to be safe; she just had to rely on that.

“Something I had hoped never to need again,” Nenn replied. “A relic of more deluded age.”

“And this will help me fight neotroopers?”

“It will help you survive them.” The narrow passage opened onto a new, larger area and they were able to stand once more. He stopped, staring forward into the dark. “Rey.”

“What is it?”

“There are many things I have never told you. I had hoped I might never need to.”

“About what?”

“About me. About you. About a connection you have forgotten.” He fell silent for a moment. “You found this cave once.”

She frowned. “I don’t remember that.”

“You were very young. But you did not come back here with a lamp.”

“I made it through in the dark?”

“No. It was not dark for you.” He took a long breath. “Sit with me.”

He let himself down to the ground and placed the lamp on the floor between them. Rey sat across it from him. “You know the tales of the Jedi,” he said.

Rey nodded. “Traders have talked about Luke Skywalker. And you have talked about the Jedi before him.” She smiled in amusement. “In not the most flattering terms.”

Nenn nodded. “The Jedi became complacent and allowed themselves to ignore what they had become. It was, ultimately, their inability to reflect on themselves which led to their demise. Their arrogance blinded them to the machinations of the Sith.

“But as you said, I’ve talked about that before. But there is more to the Jedi than that.” He looked up. “There is the Force. An energy within all living things, to which all is connected. The Jedi were strong in it and it is what made them so powerful. It was said a single Jedi was equal to a thousand soldiers.” He gave a short laugh. “An exaggeration, but it existed for a reason.”

Rey blinked and then excitement filled her eyes. “Wait. Are you going to say there’s a Jedi who can fight the neotroopers?”

Nenn did not answer but instead reached out to the lamp. He turned it off, and suddenly they were consumed by the dark.

Rey remained silent, waiting for Nenn to say something further. After several seconds however, she finally asked, “Nenn?” When he still said nothing, she reached out towards him. “Nenn, I don’t-”

He was not there. And the lamp was gone. Rey got to her feet. “Nenn?!” she called. “Where did you go?”

The panic she had stifled coming through the narrow passage returned and she began to breath quickly. Already she was disoriented and had no idea which way to go to return to the passage and leave the cave.

“Nenn, this isn’t funny! What are you doing?! Where are you?!”

The panic tightened its grip. Was he simply hiding in the dark? Or had he left her? The thought instantly brought old memories to the forefront of her mind. Flashes of the moment when she had been left behind on Jakku, watching her parents’ ship take off without her.

“Nenn!” The panic compelled her to move forward, her arms flailing to the sides as she desperately searched. Her left hand struck the cave wall as she neared it and she yelped in pain, recoiling and hugging her arms to her chest. After several moments she put the hand against the wall and began following it through the cave. She had no idea how deep it went, but she knew she was already lost. Nenn had gone somewhere and she needed to find him.

“What is the point of this?!” Her shout carried with it an edge of anger. “What are you doing?!” Still silence was her only response.

When the dim glow appeared deep in the cave ahead of her, she breathed in relief. “Nenn, what is going on?” she asked, moving as quickly as she could towards the light without tripping on the rocky floor. As she neared however, she realized the glow was not of his lamp. Where Nenn’s lamp had been orange, this light was purple. Rounding the corner where it emanated from, she saw no sign of the old man. Instead, the light came from beneath a boulder.

Rey stared at the boulder in confusion. “Nenn! There’s something here!” she called. When still he didn’t answer her expression tightened into a scowl. “Fine. I’ll do your blasted test, old man.” She wondered how hard she could hit him without causing him permanent harm.

She knelt by the boulder and threw her weight against it. It shifted easily and the glow brightened as it revealed a shallow hole. In it was a wrapped cloth, the glow radiating from its unsealed ends. “What is this?” she whispered as she reached down and began to unroll it. Metal clinked together as she did and she could feel the object was composed of several pieces, both large and small. She slowed as she realized pieces might fall out and get lost.

Whatever it was, she did not recognize its pieces. The largest piece was a silvery, hollow tube with gold highlights and soft, black ridges running the length of one of its halves. It was hollow and the other pieces looked like they most likely went inside of it. To form what, she had no idea. But she paused in her wonder as she focused on the source of light: a small purple stone. It not only glowed brightly, but it seemed to hum. The sound was soothing in a way, gentle on her ears and comprised of several peaceful chords.

“Nenn… wherever you are… I don’t understand. What is this? Why is this stone glowing?”

“So you can see it?”

Rey jumped in place and looked back behind her even as Nenn’s lamp came back on to cast its light, revealing the old man standing but a few feet away. She bared her teeth in frustration at him. “What was that about?”

Nenn sighed. “When you found this cave before, it was because you heard the crystal’s call. But after, you forgot about it and it stopped calling you. I was not sure if the gift had faded or if the crystal chose to wait.”

“Wait? Wait for what?”

“Until we were both ready,” Nenn said. He crouched down next to Rey, staring at the crystal and the metallic pieces. He reached a hand towards the pieces. “This was my lightsaber when I served as a Jedi Master of the old order.” He paused, as if mustering the will to say what came next. “My name… is Mace Windu.”

Rey’s eyes widened. Nenn’s real name? He was a Jedi? This was a lightsaber?! Her eyes darted between him and the dismantled weapon. In a second, he had answered countless of her questions, and yet simultaneously spawned a thousand more which all sprang to the forefront of her mind at once.

“But… _what?_ ” was all she could stammer out.

“I failed to stop the rise of the Empire. I survived perhaps only by the will of the Force, but I was broken.” He held up his robotic hand and gestured to his covered eye. “And if it was the will of the Force I lived, then I knew I had a role to play still. I exiled myself and allowed the galaxy to believe I had been killed. And I waited. Wandered. When I came to Jakku, I knew this was where I needed to wait.” He looked to Rey. “And so I did. Until you appeared. The Force moved around you in a way it reserves for very few.”

“What do you mean?”

Mace Windu pointed to the glowing crystal. “That is a kyber crystal. _My_ kyber crystal. And only someone with a strong connection to the Force, to who the crystal calls, can see its glow.” He levelled his gaze with her.

Rey leaned her head forward. “You mean… I’m a Jedi?”

Windu looked away. “You could become one. If you chose to.”

Rey noted his expression seemed resistant. A Jedi Master… and yet she could tell he was reluctant to see her follow in his footsteps for some reason. Was that why he had kept her nature hidden?

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” Rey asked. “If you knew, why didn’t you train me? Or take me to Luke Skywalker?”

He sighed. “The ways of the Jedi are obsolete. What we had become was little more than glorified warriors. I did not want to set you on the same path, and I am not convinced Skywalker would have done otherwise. His lineage…” He paused in thought and eventually shook his head. “I have taught you many of our forms for your own defense. And it was for your defense I did not teach you the ways of the Force. It would inevitably draw attention to you.”

“Why? I would have kept it secret if you told me to,” Rey said.

Windu laughed. “Rey, do you know how many secrets of mine you have revealed? But even if you had kept it secret, destiny would not. The Force does not sit idle, ever. I had hoped I might save you from a destiny you would never wish for.” He looked up, an annoyed expression on his face. “But I think it is coming now, regardless.”

He turned and began to walk away. Rey gathered up and re-wrapped his lightsaber’s pieces and followed him. Eventually they returned to the cave’s entrance. The light outside now glowed orange as the sun neared the horizon and the growing dimness marked the fast-approaching blanket of night.

Windu led her out of the cave. BB-8 whirred in excitement at the sight of them and rolled over to Rey’s legs, leaning back to look at her as it chattered away.

“Yes, we’re fine. Nenn was just being difficult,” Rey said. She looked over at him to see him glancing back and she grinned. “But we’re done now, so we can go home.”

Windu raised an eyebrow at her. “I never said we were leaving.” He resumed his way down the path to the canyon floor. “Get the tents set up. We’re staying here tonight.”

“What?” Rey asked. “But we need to turn in our salvage.”

“We can do that tomorrow. We have enough rations for now.”

“Emergency rations. You said never to touch them unless it was a true emergency.”

“Does a swarm of neotroopers not constitute an emergency?” As they reached the speeder, he stopped and folded his arms as he looked at the canyon entrance. “Rey, I do not think we will be on Jakku much longer. Returning with salvage may no longer be important.”

Rey marched to his side and stared at him defiantly. “I am not leaving.”

Windu shook his head. “The Force will give you no choice.”

“But my parents won’t find me if I’m not here.”

When Windu turned his stare on her she held her ground. “It’s been fifteen years, Rey,” he said.

“Just because you’ve lost all faith doesn’t mean I have! You’re just used to everyone going away and think that’s how it will always be!” The words exploded out of her with more anger than she had intended.

His expression became hard for an instant before it fell neutral. “Do you want to become a Jedi, Rey?”

She blinked, the question surprising her. “Why… wouldn’t I?” she asked.

“To be a Jedi, one must sever the hold attachments have over them,” Windu explained. “To give them the power to control your decisions ultimately leads to the dark side.”

“What do you mean ‘the dark side?’”

“You are afraid, Rey. Afraid your parents will never return; to face it, you believe instead they will come back. But that creates more fear, that if you leave then they will never find you. But every day they do not return. Your fear will become frustration, that frustration will become anger. In time, you will resent them for leaving you, for making you wait. And that hate will lead you to suffer and to cause suffering.

“The Force is powerful, and those lost to hate are drawn to its dark side. They are corrupted by it and become cruel, uncaring creatures,” Windu explained. “Binding yourself to your attachments will only lead you there.” He looked back towards the canyon entrance. “If you wish to become a Jedi, you must give up this belief which holds you here.”

“But they will come back!”

“No, Rey!” he snapped. “If they were able to come back, they would have by now. They are gone. You need to accept that.”

She set her jaw as she tried to keep back angry tears. “You don’t even want to teach me to be a Jedi! If I need to give up my parents just for that, then I won’t do it!” She shoved the wrapped lightsaber at him and he managed to grab it before it fell.

He watched as she stomped away, saying nothing to stop her. She retreated to the canyon’s entrance and disappeared through it. Without the speeder, she would not go far. He doubted she would be gone long either; with night quickly setting in, she would need to come back to the camp.

Mace Windu detached the net from the speeder’s side holding their camping equipment. He would not be able to get it put together by himself, but with S-L3K’s help he figured it would be possible. While they set about to putting together what amounted to little more than sheets on frames leaning against the canyon’s wall, he ordered BB-8 to gather dry brush and start a campfire.

When at last the lean-to tents were finished, Mace sat down in front of the small fire BB-8 put together. The droid had vanished since, likely to find Rey. Night had set in completely and in the shadow of the canyon, where even the bright moon’s light could not reach, only darkness remained outside of the fire’s glow.

With Rey still not returned, Mace gave a resigned sigh. “She’s too old to learn of the Force, anyway. Perhaps it is better this way.”

“So sure of that, are you?”

The voice was not Rey’s. In an instant, Mace was on his feet far faster than seemed possible for him. His body complained, sharp pains shooting through his back and legs, but he ignored it.

“Wh-” he began, but his words choked in his throat. Before him was a figure he knew. Pale, translucent, but it was him. His jaw fell open, his mind racing as he tried to discern what he was seeing. A hallucination? A vision from the Force? But as the small, shriveled figure stared back at him, a wry smile across his face, he knew it was neither.

“Master Yoda?” he asked.

Yoda gave a raspy, short laugh. “Hello, old friend. Surprised, are you?”

S-L3K, who had been partially deactivated sitting on the speeder, became aware of the manifestation then. With an alarmed shout, it rose up from the speeder, its limbs extending. Its two rear limbs which were bent above its body switched their multitools over to a blade and a power conduit, its ends sparking as the droid overcharged it.

Mace stared at Yoda for several seconds before forcing his hanging mouth closed. He waved his hand at S-L3K to calm down. The droid hesitated before doing so, setting itself down on the speeder but never taking its eye off of the small, ghostly figure.

“You have moved into the Force,” Mace said.

Yoda nodded. “Surprised I was when with the Force you were not. Knew you alive but find you I could not.”

Mace nodded. “I have not lived with the Force since I failed to stop the Jedis’ fall.”

“Afraid, were you?”

“Cautious… and disillusioned.”

“Hmm,” Yoda hummed, tilting his head. “Blame yourself, you did.” He hobbled towards Mace and settled down beside him with an aged grunt. “Blame us all, you did.”

Mace opened his mouth to protest but stopped as he recalled his earlier words to Rey of the Jedi’s complacency. “Yes. Myself just as much.” He sat down, wincing as the pain from his quick rise before shot through him again. “We forgot our purpose.”

Yoda nodded. “But the past, that is. To the future we must look.” He looked up at Mace and gave an amused laugh, showing a row of misaligned teeth. “A new apprentice you have, yes?”

Mace looked towards the canyon entrance. “No. She does not want to learn.”

“And stop you, that will?”

“She is too old to learn the ways of the Jedi, Master Yoda. She is stubborn and clings to the past. It festers anger within her. If I teach her the ways of the Force, I will only be enabling her fall down a dark path.”

Yoda laughed again. It was a strange sound, almost senile and uncontrolled. It clashed with Mace’s memories of the ancient Jedi who had always been so calm and collected. Even when showing gentle playfulness with the younglings he trained, his good natured words were always quiet. Mace could only assume his own exile in the wake of the Jedi’s fall had left him so eccentric.

“Master Windu, Jedi Master of determination and certainty,” Yoda said. “Yet now, looking for excuses you are. Uncertain, age has made you.”

He frowned. “Master Yoda, Rey is an adult. And… the last time we trained an apprentice too old to begin, that same apprentice destroyed us.”

“No,” Yoda said flatly. “Finish us, Skywalker did. Destroy us, we ourselves did. But balance to the Force he brought, as well. And his son, no younger than your apprentice he was when Obi-wan trained him. Peace to the galaxy, he brought. Because of him, returned the Jedi have.”

“Luke Skywalker. I know,” Mace replied.

“Make a choice, he did,” Yoda said. “Much anger I sensed in him, when face his father he did. On the brink of the dark side he stood. But the light, he chose. Peace. Forgiveness. Love. These things he accepted and gave, and to the light he brought his father.” He pointed towards the canyon entrance. “Make a choice, your apprentice must as well.”

“I think she has already made it.”

“Out of fear. Know this you do, Master Windu. Face her fear, she must, or truly choose she never will.” He jabbed Windu in his side with his clawed finger, and while his ghostly form did not truly touch him, Mace felt it all the same. “From you she must learn, or to the dark side she will fall.”

Yoda turned his head towards the canyon entrance. “Return, she does. Startle her, I would.” He laughed. “See you again, I shall, old friend. With you, I will be. With you, the Force is.”

Yoda faded away. When he was gone, Mace stared at where he had been until Rey’s form became visible at the edge of the campfire’s glow. BB-8 rolled along behind her, a bundle of twigs and sticks wrapped in a cable it dragged along behind it. It rolled past the campfire, pulling its salvage into it before letting its cable release them.

Rey sat across from Mace, saying nothing as she stared into the fire. He studied her face, but it revealed little. Her emotions roiled within her, he sensed. She was calmer than before, but even still the conflict of feelings was significant.

They were both silent, but Mace could feel something within Rey wanting to come out. Pride and anger kept it down, but they were losing the battle. Until they did, he decided to wait for her to speak first.

“Can someone who does not know the force wield a lightsaber?” she eventually asked.

Mace’s lips tightened briefly. “Yes, they could. But it would be little more than a common blade in their hands. At best, they could use it as a trained swordsman might any other blade.”

“You’ve taught me to use blades,” she said. “Can I…” She looked away and fell silent. Mace waited once more for her to speak first. “Can I decide if I want to learn the Force later? And just learn the lightsaber now?”

Mace folded his arms. “You can.” When she looked back at him, he gestured to the wrapped lightsaber pieces. “I will teach you basics of the Force when using it, as well. You will need them for it to serve you.”

Rey looked away again before giving a small nod. “Thank you.”

Mace grabbed the bundle and put it on the ground in front of him. He shut his eyes and took a long, deep breath.

Rey watched with a confused expression. She was not sure if the training had begun or not, but when Mace did nothing after several moments she copied him. Her legs crossed and her eyes shut, she began to breath deeply and slowly.

“You’ll want your eyes open,” Mace said, a tone of amusement in his voice. When Rey looked, her eyes widened. The pieces of the lightsaber had begun to levitate. The smaller pieces began to orbit the larger pieces, which rotated as they began to come together. The movements were fluid and precise, each piece sliding into and locking onto each other. As each piece joined, the weapon’s shape quickly became clear.

When the last piece joined onto it, the blade floated vertically, waiting until Mace reached forward and grasped it. His eyes opened and Rey watched as several emotions swept across his face as he beheld the lightsaber. Then his thumb shifted against one of the nodules and the handle hummed, a purple beam of light extending from its end pointing to the sky.

Eventually he pressed the nodule again and the blade retracted, the lightsaber falling silent. He looked to Rey and held it out to her. “Take it.”

She reached across and gripped the lightsaber. Despite its size, it was heavy. As she turned it out about, looking it over, she realized its weight distribution was completely unlike any blade she had ever wielded. While she knew the forms Mace had taught her, utilizing them with such a strange-feeling weapon would take some time to get used to.

She placed her thumb against the power button and pressed into it. Once more, the lightsaber hummed as the purple blade extended. Despite the conflicting thoughts racing through her mind, an astounded smile lightened her face. However terrifying the future had become, however much she refused to believe her parents had abandoned her for good… she had to admit this was exciting. She took her eyes off the blade and looked to Mace as she asked, “What’s first?”


	7. Wing It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe and Finn meet the hostile surface of Jakku.

As the sun peered over the horizon, Finn grimaced and threw his arm over his eyes to block out the light. He groaned as his body, particularly his back, shot stiff pains through his muscles. He had heard his fellow neotroopers joke that any landing you could walk away from was a good landing, and he certainly understood the sentiment. But even though they had survived, it had not come without cost. Every part of him sported some set of bruises, his arms and back in particular. A night on the hard ground had done nothing to help either.

But, compared to Poe, he was much better off. His neotrooper armor had taken much of the thrashing of the crash, but Poe had had no such protection. His bruises were far more severe, and his broken rib had made it difficult for them just to reach the canyon they had taken shelter in. Looking over at his unexpected companion, Finn could not help but notice just how much of the Resistance spy was darkened by his bruises. Were it not for the need for water and the urgency of finding this droid, he would have suggested they spend a day to recuperate.

He blinked as he realized Poe was asleep and sighed. They had taken shifts throughout the night to keep watch for any beasts or First Order patrols that might wander too close, but even with the firmness of the ground Finn had found it difficult to stay awake, his body begging for rest after the traumatic day. It seemed Poe had been unable to resist as the dawn approached.

Finn got to his feet, stretching his body as much as he could to relieve the stiffness in his joints. Taking a deep breath, he smelled moisture in the air. He swiveled his head at the realization; judging by the light breeze, the scent came from deeper in or on the other side of the canyon. That was a good sign; they might be close to water, and water meant two things: quenched thirst and possible civilization.

He instantly became aware of the fabric-like dryness in his mouth at the thought and he took several steps forward towards the smell. However, he stopped and looked to Poe. The Resistance spy showed no signs of waking soon. Still, he figured it would be better not to just disappear on his companion. Though there had been no sign of any First Order patrols at the crash site – which he found very strange – he was not sure he wanted to risk Poe being discovered while he was asleep.

Finn kneeled next to Poe and nudged him. “Hey,” he muttered. Poe stirred for a moment and his eyes opened partially. Then, quite suddenly, he threw himself up into a sitting position, his hand scrambling for a nonexistent weapon. Finn put his hands up. “It’s okay, it’s okay!”

Poe froze before looking at Finn. Clarity returned to his stare after a second and his body relaxed. “You scared me.”

“Sorry,” Finn said. “I’m going to scout ahead. I smell water. If you want to rest a-”

Poe waved his hand dismissively. “No no.” He grimaced as he reached forward to stretch out his back. “Sun’s already up; I should have gotten us up already. Give me a minute and we can get going together.”

“Okay,” Finn said. He looked up and out of the canyon. “Did you see any patrols last night?”

Poe shook his head. “Nothing. And that doesn’t make any sense. The flames of the ship were still burning last I saw. The First Order should have been able to see that.” He frowned and looked up at Finn. “You know the protocols. Why wouldn’t they have done a search?”

Finn looked down as he thought. That was what was concerning to him: the protocols dictated that there should have been a search. They were only supposed to give up a search for an enemy target if they had exhausted all likely locations someone might hide. In order for no search to have been done...

He shook his head. “No idea,” he said. “Someone must have called it off.”

“Your friend?” Poe suggested.

“FA-8299 is a captain; it would take someone higher up to make that call,” Finn said.

Poe looked away and stared distantly for a moment. “I guess we’re not that important.” He clapped his hands on his legs and stood up slowly. “Which is alright with me. We can move more freely that way.”

Finn nodded. “No reason to say no to a lucky break.” He looked into the canyon. “So how do we find your droid?”

Poe stepped towards Finn and clapped his shoulder. “We get lucky.”

__ __ __

The canyon lead them through the hills. As heat from the day blew in on the breeze, the two travelers counted themselves lucky the high walls shielded them from the sun’s glare. Finn figured his suit’s environment controls would help keep him from overheating, but without his helmet he had no shield from the light itself. Luck had favored them with surviving the crash, but it had not done so for his helmet. When they had wriggled their way out of the wreckage, Finn had found his helmet crushed under some of the ship’s debris.

Though in a way that may have been itself a fortunate happening. Neotrooper helmets had locator beacons that could have been used to locate them; with the helmet so damaged, there was no way it could have been used to track them down. Still, he was not eager to experience the sun’s glare when they left the canyon.

They moved quicker than they had the previous day. However uncomfortable it might have been, the night’s rest had still done some good. Poe had to be careful not to aggravate his broken rib, but otherwise he could move at almost a normal pace.

Poe’s plan was not as aimless as he had initially made it out to be. He knew his droid would not have been able to get far after he sent him away. Had the First Order not shot them down, he would have returned to the village to seek BB-8 out. But even with the crash, he had managed to get them relatively close… or so he figured. Being unfamiliar with the planet, he had no idea which way or how far the salvager village was. For now, they would need to find the nearest settlement and get directions.

“BB-8 will probably hide at the first place he finds,” Poe said. “He went north. Once we figure out where we are and where I was captured, I can see where he might have gone.”

Finn paused as they came to a rise. The canyon walls were getting lower and he had a feeling they would soon be out. The scent of water had not gone away, but he could see a bank of fog in the sky over the walls. His hope of finding water shrunk as he realized it was likely the source of the smell.

The end of the canyon sloped up and narrowed. Finn’s feet sunk into soft sand as he trudged up it, the slope getting steeper with each step. With his head a few feet below the top, he had to put his hands on the ground to steady himself and keep from falling back. He reached to the ledge above and hoisted himself up, sliding onto his gut. He turned around and rose into a kneel to reach down for Poe.

Poe grabbed ahold and Finn began lifting him. As he came up onto the ledge, Poe’s eyes went wide in surprise. “Whoa,” he said, looking past Finn.

Finn looked behind himself and turned as the sight before them registered in his mind. They land dropped at an easy slope from them, the land covered in dry grasses and short, scraggly bushes. Halfway to the horizon sat an ocean, its surface a deep purplish-blue. A large mountain range, its end sliced off into massive cliffs by the ocean, stretched away into the distance.

The skeletons of fallen Rebel and Galactic Empire ships littered the slope. Salvagers had stripped them bare and most were little more than support beams rising up from the ground. But one ship, an Imperial Star Destroyer sitting at the base of the cliffs on the coast of the ocean, had instead been converted into a city. Huts and buildings were crammed together, crowding for space on the top of the massive ship.

Dirt roads led away from the ship, though none climbed up the hill towards where Finn and Poe stood. But even from as far as they stood, they could see a few speeders and vehicles moving along the roads.

But of particular note was the small pond, barely more than a puddle, sitting in a depression a short walk away. A wave of relief washed over Finn as he began to walk towards it.

Poe put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Wait,” he said. He pointed off to their side. A speeder sat next to a rocky outcropping near the pond. Its paint was a faded blue and it was loaded with several pieces of scrap held on by wire nets. An Aleena, a short blue reptilian with large eyes and a pointed head, sat nearby it eating its brunch.

“He doesn’t look dangerous,” Finn said.

“Let’s just not surprise him,” Poe said.

They made their way towards the pond. As they neared, Poe raised his hand in a wave to catch the Aleena’s attention. It paused midbite as it noticed them.

“Hey there!” Poe said. “Could you tell us where we are?”

The Aleena tilted its head before speaking in a jittery language. Finn understood none of it, but Poe seemed to. “Overseer, huh? By any chance are you going back there?” he asked.

The Aleena nodded and pointed to its brunch as it replied.

“Is there any way we can ride with you?” Poe asked. “We’ve been walking a long time.”

The Aleena made a face, its eyes narrowing as it looked them over. When it asked a question, Poe said, “Cost? Uh…” When it became clear he had no money, the Aleena looked at Finn and pointed at him as it spoke.

Finn looked at Poe. “What’s he saying?”

“She wants your armor as payment.”

Finn looked down at himself. His neotrooper armor was clean and in good condition. It could certainly go for a lot, he guessed, particularly to salvagers. But bartering it away seemed wrong, and yet at the same time it felt right. After a few moments of thought, he said, “I spent my life looking forward to wearing this armor,” he said. “But I guess I don’t want to be part of that anymore.” He looked back at Poe with a slight smile. “But haggle with her. We can use the pieces for other things if we need them.”

Poe nodded. “Well yeah. We’re in a hurry, but she doesn’t need to know that.”

“Right,” Finn said. “I’ll get us some water while you do that.”

Poe walked past him towards the Aleena and they began talking. Finn looked to the pond. It was quite small, only about two meters across and only a few centimeters deep. With as hot as it was, he doubted it would last long. In a matter of hours he was sure it would evaporate.

He was halfway to the pond when the Aleena started shouting at him. Finn stopped and looked back at her; she had hurried past Poe and was waving her arms above her head, shouting all the while. When she saw him look, she motioned for him to come back.

“I just need some water,” Finn said. “I’m not going away.”

Poe watched the Aleena, Styks, in confusion. Her yelling was fast and his understanding of her language could not quite keep up. He could pick out ‘No’ and ‘Come back’ but some of the other words were completely unfamiliar to him. Then motion caught his eye and he looked at Finn, or rather behind him. A mound had formed in the sand beside the pond and started moving – rather quickly – towards Finn.

“Finn, watch it!” he shouted.

Finn looked back to see the mound charging him. He yelped as he started to run, his feet tripping over themselves as he accelerated. He staggered as he tried to keep his balance from the panicked start.

The creature beneath the sand gained on him even once he was at full sprint. He could feel the sand shifting as it neared. He knew he had to reach where the sand turned to soil; the creature could burrow quickly through loose sand but he guessed compacted dirt would slow it down. Or at least that was what he hoped.

The creature snorted as it came to the surface. Sensing its prey about to escape, it lunged forward, launching its long body out of the ground. Its pointed snout opened wide to reveal rows of sharp teeth. At the same moment, Finn leaped forward, throwing himself forward in a dive for the hard soil. The jaws came down on where his leg had been an instant before, snapping shut with a splitting _crack!_

Both prey and predator skid on the ground as they landed. Finn was quick to get to his feet, the creature throwing its head in one last attempt to grab him but missing as he scrambled away.

The beast’s body was long, dark tan with spots of dull yellow, and smooth. It looked like some giant worm with an eyeless gator head. Several small arms lined its sides, but they were too short to support it.

The creature swung its head about as it tried to find Finn, hoping he was still nearby. When it could not find him, it snorted and growled. With a furious hiss, it turned its body and snaked back to the sand, diving in almost as effortlessly as if it were water.

Poe reached Finn and they slowed to a stop. Finn bent forward and placed his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. “I just… wanted some water.”

Styks ran up behind them. Seeing the danger clear, she said, _[“Never trust water on sand. Those are kinbagh traps.”_

“Kinbagh traps, huh?” Poe said. “Well that’s just awful.” He grinned uneasily at Finn. “Good thing it was you and not me; I’d never have outrun it like this.”

“Lucky me,” Finn said. He pointed to Styks. “I think she earned a bit more than whatever we were going to trade.”

_[“My price just went up anyway for that,”]_ she said with a toothy grin.

Poe looked to her and gave a resigned nod. “Alright, alright. The chestpiece _and_ all the arm pieces. Deal?”

She gave a smug look of satisfaction. _[“Deal. We’ll go when I’m done eating.”]_

Once Poe communicated the arrangement to Finn, he began stripping the agreed upon pieces of his armor. The neotrooper armor detached easily from the fabric underlying them, and by the time they returned to Styks’ speeder he had them all removed. Only black fabric covered his torso now.

Once Styks finished eating, she placed the armor into her nets with the rest of her scrap. The speeder was only a single seater, so Finn and Poe climbed onto the sides of the nets and held tight as they sped towards Overseer.

The city on the star destroyer was quiet; with the sun reaching the height of its arc through the sky, the population had moved indoors or to shaded areas. The only individuals braving the sun’s heat were those making use of it for cooking food on sheets of metal. Their fare carried with it an unpleasant smell, and as Finn and Poe rode through the narrow, winding paths between buildings and poorly-constructed huts, both attempted to breathe through their noses as little as possible.

“What _is_ that?” Finn asked. “I’d rather have to eat V-55 rations.”

_[“Salvager portions,”]_ Styks said. _[“It is the cheapest food we can trade our findings for. It is bad, but it is better than starving.”]_

Poe looked back at Styks. “You’re paid with that?” he asked. When Styks nodded, he made a face in disgust.

_[“There are better options, but they charge more. When I am hungry, I want more rather than better,”]_ Styks said. _[“If you have come to make money, offworlder, you will find little. Just bad food.”]_

Poe shook his head. “We’re looking for a droid I lost,” he said. “Once we have him, we are leaving.”

Styks shrugged. _[“If you are looking for a lost droid, most likely it will be turned over like all the other salvage.”]_

Styks slowed her speeder to a stop as they arrived at a large opening in the city. The buildings here were more sturdily built with better materials; rather than looking like bits of metal strapped together, it had been properly constructed. The clearing was surrounded by several stalls of varying sizes at which some few salvagers who had quit their gathering for the day waited to trade in their findings.

Finn and Poe climbed off of the speeder and Poe crossed in front of it to join Finn. They looked around at the scene, a lost expression on both of their faces.

_[“If someone here has found your droid, they will bring it here,”]_ Styks said. _[“But be ready for a fight; they will not give it to you just because it is yours.”]_

Poe nodded. “Thank you for the warning,” he said. “We do not know if my droid will be brought here, but-”

_[“Where did you lose it?”]_

Poe folded his arms. “A small settlement. I don’t know what it was called.”

Styks shook her head. _[“There are many small camps.]”_

“It was raided three cycles ago,” Finn said.

Styks’ eyes widened in interest. [ _“Yos Naril,”]_ she said. She nodded. _[“Your droid will be brought here. Yos Naril is… was less than fifty kilometers south of here and near the Clodorn Battlefield. All the salvagers who go there live here or in Yos Naril.”]_ She narrowed one eye as she gave them a sidelong glance. _[“It is a white and orange BB unit, right?”]_

Poe looked at her sharply. “How did you know?”

_[“There is a bounty,”]_ she said. She grinned toothily. _[“On its owner as well. And his accomplice.”]_ When Poe’s expression darkened, she laughed. _[“What luck for me. And you two were only posted this morning.”]_

“There’s a bounty on us, Finn,” Poe said.

“What?!”

“And I think our friend here is going to try and collect.”

Finn cracked his knuckles and began to advance on Styks. “Oh yeah?”

The little Aleena’s hands flashed under her coat and produced two large knives. Her face turned to a snarl and she hissed. _[“I said_ nothing _about turning you in!”]_

Poe put his hand on Finn’s shoulder. “Wait.” He narrowed his eyes at Styks. “Why not?”

_[“Droid bounties are one thing, but bounties on people are ignored here… mostly,_ ” _]_ Styks said. _[“Half the people who come to Jakku do so to hide, many from bounties.”]_ Her expression relaxed slightly. _[“I have five bounties on me from the New Republic and the First Order. If we started turning each other in, not many of us would be left.”]_ She waited a moment as Poe translated a summary of her words to Finn. When it looked like he was not about to attack her, she put her knives back into her coat. _[“That doesn’t mean let your guard down. You are outsiders; some would not consider you protected by our little unwritten code. Stay low, find your droid, and get out fast.”]_

Poe nodded and then smiled wryly. “I don’t suppose this information has a cost, does it?”

Styks laughed. _[“If you were to pay me, I would not say no. But I have already told you.”]_ She shrugged dismissively and she began to turn back towards her speeder. Then she stopped and her eyes widened. _[“Do you have a ship to leave? Once you find your droid?”]_

“I don’t think the First Order found mine,” Poe said. “It’s only a single-seater, though. I’ll have to trade it for something else that can carry both of us.”

_[“If you want to pay me, take me with you.”]_

Poe frowned. “Why?”

_[“I came here to hide, but it is worse than if I had been captured,”]_ Styks said. _[“Unless I am lucky and find something of immense value, I will never be able to buy my way off.”]_

Poe looked down as he thought. When he said nothing, Styks pointed to one of the stalls. _[“I am going to unload. That is where I get my payments for turning in scrap… and information.”]_ She climbed onto the speeder.

“Okay, okay,” Poe said. “We will take you.”

_[“You’re so generous,”]_ she replied, grinning. _[“I will watch for your droid, then.”]_

She drifted away towards the stall she had indicated. Once she was out of earshot, Finn looked at Poe. “It isn’t a good idea to just take her.”

“We don’t have much choice,” Poe said. “She knows we’re wanted. All she needs to do is mention it to someone and they’ll turn us over to the First Order.” He sighed and shook his head. “It’s okay. We can drop her off at a port on Rattatak when we get there.”

“I don’t trust her.”

Poe grinned and clapped Finn on his shoulder. “Welcome to the Resistance, buddy. Sometimes you don’t always get to work with the most respectable people.”

Finn blinked and looked away. The Resistance. When he had broken Poe out of his cell, joining the fight against the First Order had been the furthest thing from his mind. Poe had simply been a means to an end… and a chance to do the right thing.

Would joining the Resistance be the right thing? He knew very little outside of the First Order. Maybe the razing of Yos Naril had been a singular instance of neotroopers committing an atrocity. Or maybe it was just Kylo Ren’s aggressive, heavy-handed methods he had heard so much about and not a common practice throughout the rest of the military.

Neither suggestion sat well with him. Nobody else – not even FA-8299 - had expressed any surprise or hesitation about Ren’s order. On the journey back to the Absolve, instead of shock and horror at what had been done, his fellow troopers had laughed and made jokes about the ordeal. It almost seemed normal to them.

How much more had the First Order done? How much more would they do?

_Should_ he help to stop them?

Images of the neotrooper who had died in front of him from the explosion on the DIM cruiser flashed through his mind, followed by the screams of Yos Naril’s inhabitants as they were slaughtered in front of him. All of that had happened in just his first mission as a fully-fledged soldier. Fighting alongside the Resistance, would it be any different? Would he simply be condemning himself to be surrounded by death until he himself was killed?

Poe grabbed his shoulder and shook him, causing him to flinch away as he returned to his immediate surroundings. “What?”

“You okay?”

He hesitated. Poe was a nice guy with a good-looking smile that made him easy to trust, but he was still more or less a stranger. How safe was it to answer truthfully?

He finally just nodded. “Yeah. Yeah,” he said, putting on a grin. He waved his hand. “Everything’s good. Just hot.”

Across the plaza, Styks reached the front of her line. As she unloaded her salvage from her speeder onto the measuring platform, she spotted the bounty listings for her new companions and their droid. When Kukon – a raggedy human with long, matted black hair – came around to begin appraising her finds, she pointed to the bounties. _[“Is there any extra information on that droid? I was out all morning and saw no sign of it.”]_

Kukon gave an aggravated huff. “You’re out of luck. It’s already been found.”

_[“Blast,”]_ Styks spat. _[“Who’s brought it in?”]_

“It hasn’t been. Nenn N’ka and his rat got it.”

Styks frowned. _[“The old hermit? He already has a droid; what does he want with it?”]_

Kukon put his hands up. “Don’t ask me. Sure ticked off Yunro, though.” He laughed. “She and her goons are off to try and get it from him. I guess we’ll be adding five more mysteries to old N’ka’s list.”

Styks’ jaw fell open. _[“What idiots,”]_ she said. A coldness shot through her as a realization jumped to the front of her mind. _[“They didn’t report it already, did they?!”]_

“Well of course they did. But they want to turn it over for the full bounty rather than just get paid for the informa- Hey, wait!” he exclaimed as Styks turned and ran for her speeder. “We haven’t paid you yet!”

_[“I’ll pick it up later! Maybe!”]_ Styks shouted back. She jumped onto her speeder and ignited its engine, violently steering it around before hurrying across the plaza. She weaved to avoid pedestrians, but many still had to scramble out of her way.

She slammed the speeder to a sudden stop as she pulled up next to Finn and Poe. They looked up at her in surprise.

_[“We need to go now! I know where your droid is!”]_

Poe jumped onto the side of her speeder without hesitation. “She found BB-8!” he said. Finn pulled his head back in surprise before climbing on next to him.

_[“It’s not good!”]_ Styks said as she gunned her speeder. _[“Someone’s already gone to try and take it. And whoever put out the bounty knows it’s been found.”]_

“Then the First Order will be-” Poe began, but he stopped as a sound caused all three of them to look up.

A First Order troop carrier had arrived over the city and was setting down in the plaza they had just left, the only place open enough for it to land. Just before the three turned a corner and left the view behind, they saw the large front hatch open to reveal the platoon of neotroopers waiting within.

Finn only had an instant to see them, but that had been enough. The captain leading the retrieval was FA-8299.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Finally got a new chapter to throw on here. I've finally got the first draft of the whole trilogy worked out, so it's full steam ahead (sometimes) on writing the story itself.


	8. Return of a Jedi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Nenn find far more waiting for them at home than they expected.

Rey brought the speeder to a stop as the sentries at Overseer’s main gate became visible. She made a face as she looked at them, furrowing her brow as she thought.

“Rey?” Mace asked.

“I think we should go in through the southeast entrance,” Rey said. “Fewer people will recognize us that way.”

He hummed. “I was going to say south.”

Rey shrugged. “Southeast would avoid more people.”

“South is faster. The longer we’re inside, the more time there is for someone to recognize this droid.”

Rey was silent as she weighed the options. Nenn was certain there would be a bounty on BB-8, and she had no reason to disagree with him. They had covered the droid up on the speeder, but Yunro knew they had the droid. She gave it a fifty-fifty chance that the Toydarian would have told anyone that they had the droid. She would want to turn them over herself for the bounty and so not risk anyone moving in on them first, after all. But it was also possible that, since she would want to get to them as quickly as possible, she would need eyes to spot them when they returned to Overseer. If she had reported them, then they would want to be in and out as fast as possible, but if she had not reported them…

She nodded. Less time in the city was the better option either way. “Alright, we’ll go in the south gate,” she said. She turned the speeder and accelerated towards it.

The plan was simple: get in, grab their stored rations, and return to the cave and live on those while Rey trained. Rey had suggested they relocate entirely to Deo Narir, but Nenn had said no; doing so might buy them some time, but the bounty would have been issued to every settlement in the area, if not the whole planet. They were going to have to encounter the First Order eventually, one way or another, and the time they spent moving to a new settlement would be better spent training.

Overseer’s main gate on the tip of the star destroyer’s nose was its largest entrance; with the salvage reclaimers nearest to it, it was the highest traffic gate for the salvagers bringing in their hauls. The other gates were used more in the mornings when everyone was leaving. Normally Rey and Nenn left through the southwest gate as it was closest to their home, which made it likely it was being watched.

Rey steered wide from Overseer and kept her distance to stay out of sight from anyone watching from the southwest gate before aiming directly for the south gate. As they pulled up the ramp and slowed to a safer speed, Rey’s eyes darted about to the people around them. No one was paying them any attention, but still she felt nervous; there were too many to say for sure they weren’t being watched.

“Relax,” Mace muttered. “Focus and reach out.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do as you learned to predict my movements,” he said. “You can feel ill intentions just as clearly.”

Rey frowned. During their training through the night, Nenn had tried to teach her how to sense what he was about to do. Without his own blade, he had instead tied a bandage around her eyes and threw rocks at her. S-L3K had participated as well and been more than happy to sling projectiles at her.

It had not come easily. By the time he ended their session she had begun to read his slower throws with some reliability, but S-L3K’s eager tosses had been too fast for her even still.

She dared not close her eyes as they made their way up the ramp, even if she felt like her vision was in the way of mentally reaching out to those around her. Still, she tried.

Those closer to them were easiest to sense. As she passed by people, their emotions seemed to glow. She only got brief senses of them, and there was little she could gain from the brief moments. Even the calmest of them seemed to have a myriad of feelings that she could interpret little from.

After several attempts, she let out a frustrated breath. “I can’t make out anything.”

“You’re focused on your own apprehension,” Mace said. “You need to clear your thoughts. Do not think about who might be watching us or what may be waiting at home. Your own emotions obscure those of others.”

“But what if someone _is_ waiting for us?”

“Then they are. Worrying does not change that. Accept that, and let your mind ease.”

Rey took a long breath. By this point, she knew he was simply training her. They were well past the gate; if someone had been watching for them then they had already been seen. She guessed that Nenn had already been sensing those around them; if someone had been watching, then she guessed he would have realized that.

But would he have told her? The old man was not hesitant to keep secrets, even from her. And as she had learned in the cave, he was not unwilling to make her learn on her own. He could have led her to his lightsaber or even made sure she knew he was there, but instead had thrown her into the dark to grasp around blindly. Could she be sure he was not keeping the knowledge of a lookout to himself?

The only way to be sure was to sense for herself that they were clear, but she knew that would not be possible. They were too far from the gate and her novice skills in the ways of the Force were too weak to even get a clear picture of those nearest to them.

She tried to push such thoughts aside; if emotions clouded her sense, then her frustration at Nenn was doing her no favors. She had to not think about him, a task easier thought than done.

She managed to push her emotions down for brief spells, during which the feelings of those around them did come through clearer. Emotions of fatigue, boredom, stress, and emptiness quickly showed themselves to be the most prevalent; in a way, they were almost infectious. In the short instances that she could make out the feelings, it was if they tried to writhe into her. Like hooks, she felt them pulling at her heart, trying to bring out the same emotions. Like hungry fish, the emotions were easily brought up within her.

She _was_ tired. Not just tired of working, but tired of waiting. Every day had been all but the same: wake up, salvage scrap, turn it in, go to sleep. Was there not more to life? Was it going to be this for the rest of her life? What if her parents never returned? Would she die an old, decrepit woman polishing the salvage like most of the other old people? Maybe there was no point to it. She had been waiting so long, and if it had all been for naught-

Rey’s eyes widened as she became aware of the stall jutting out into the street ahead of them. She swerved hard to dodge it, the speeder missing it by so few inches that her foot clipped against it. Once the speeder righted itself, Rey looked back to see the stall vendor, a Weequay, with his arms out to his sides as he watched them go.

“Concentrate,” Mace said quietly. “You must concentrate.”

“I know!” Rey snapped, her frustration returning with fervor now that it had her racing heart to fuel it. She shook her head. “I give up. I won’t be able to clear my thoughts now.”

“You only have that luxury now because we are almost home,” Mace said. “But next time, you will have to learn to regain control of your feelings. If they control you, you will never be able to resist them. You just felt how darker emotions can take hold even when they are not your own; without control, they will steer you towards the dark side.”

“Teach me next time,” Rey said in a low voice.

They neared their home and she slowed their speeder to a stop. She was about to climb off when Mace put his hand on her shoulder. “Wait,” he muttered.

“Teach me later, Nenn,” she said tersely. She pulled out of his grip and went to the salvage net. She pulled off the cloth covering some of its contents, revealing BB-8 hidden underneath. It whirred, its head shifting to look up at her with its one eye. “Let’s go inside. I don’t want someone finding you while we’re in there.”

BB-8 chirped in acknowledgement as she undid the straps holding it to the speeder. It dropped to the ground once free, its spherical body clanging like a bell as it bounced. It whirred in excitement to be free of its hiding place. While S-L3K detached from the speeder, BB-8 rolled around to the back to greet it, chirping happily. S-L3K folded up its limbs in response, moving quickly to escape the little droid. BB-8 did not seem deterred this time and started to roll after it as it chattered away.

_[“And there it is!”]_

S-L3K and BB-8 froze and Rey spun about, her face contorting into a snarl as she saw Yunro emerging from the door of her home. The toydarian swung a heavy wrench into her palms as she hovered towards Rey. The Rodian brothers, Lunlun and Etz, followed her out. Two more individuals she did not recognize, a couple of Human men, appeared from around the corner of the far side of her shack. Each of them wielded a blunt or sharp instrument, and as they approached she could tell they were readying to attack.

Rey turned her gaze on Yunro. “I told you this droid isn’t yours!” She began to reach into her satchel where Nenn’s lightsaber waited.

“Rey!” Mace called. “They don’t have blasters. Use your staff.”

Her hand had already grabbed onto the blade but she stopped as she considered his words. The lightsaber would slice through the weapons with ease and disarm them in an instant. But then everyone would know she had a lightsaber, perhaps now the most valuable item on the entire planet. Half the city would come for them to get it.

She let go of the lightsaber and grabbed her metal staff attached to the speeder, swinging it around as she poised it, ready to strike the first of the five to get within its reach. “You’re making a bad decision,” she said.

Mace climbed off of the speeder and approached them. “Yunro,” he said. His voice brought all five to a pause as their attention went to him. He raised his fingers from his cane and waved them gently. “You do not want to do this.”

_[“You don’t scare me, Nenn N’ka!”]_ Yunro spat. _[“That droid will set us for life. The bounty for information alone is enough to get us off this ball of trash.”]_

Mace was silent for a moment as he stared at the Toydarian. Then his eyes went to the Rodian brothers. Again he waved his fingers. “You want to leave.”

Both Rodian’s faces seemed to go blank as he said it. Rey had expected fear, but this was something else. Their arms slackened, their weapons lowering to their sides. Then, in monotonous voices, they said in unison, “We want to leave.”

“Yunro said it herself: the bounty for the information can allow you to leave Jakku,” Mace said. “Take it and go. Build a new life somewhere better.”

“We will take the bounty for information,” Lulun said.

“And build a new life somewhere better,” Etz added.

Yunro looked back at them sharply. _[“You cowards! Handing the droid over will make us rich!”]_

But the Rodians did not seem to hear her. They turned and started to walk away, their steps almost like they were trudging through a dream. Rey watched them go in stunned silence before looking in shock at Mace. “What did you do?” she asked in a whisper.

He did not answer her, his eyes instead going to the two Humans who had come up beside Yunro. “You do not need the full bounty,” he said.

One of the Humans blinked several times, his expression becoming a wince almost as if he had a headache. The other however went blank like the Rodian brothers. “I do not need the full bounty,” he said.

“You can be on your way.”

“I can be on my way.” Then he turned and left.

Yunro stared in disbelief at her departing comrades for several seconds before looking back at Mace. He gave her a smug smile. “Three down. How do you think you’ll fare?” he asked.

She bared her tusks as her face contorted in fury. _[“You’re just an old man! They might be cowards, but I’ll kill you myself!”_ ]

Mace shrugged. “If you insist.” He looked at Rey, his amused smile vanishing. “They’re all yours.”

She did not need to be told twice. Rey jabbed her staff up at the Toydarian, its end colliding solidly with her jaw. Yunro yelped and dropped to the ground, her wings ceasing to work. She was motionless for a moment as her addled brain tried to recover, during which S-L3K swept down and grabbed her wrench.

The Human charged Rey, swinging a wicked blade of sharpened scrap in a wild strike. The back end of her staff swung up and met it, striking it to the side and throwing his weight with it. Now off balance, Rey swept the front end of her staff into his legs, throwing them out in the other direction from under him. He collapsed on his gut and a long, pained wheeze escaped him as the impact knocked the air out of his lungs.

Yunro sat up, her eyes rolling and her body listing as dizziness tried to pull her back down. When her vision refocused, she jumped back in surprise to find the end of Rey’s staff inches from her face.

“You have a choice now, Yunro,” Mace said as he started to hobble towards the two. As the Human tried to get back on his feet, he brought his cane down on the small of his back and leaned his weight into it. The man howled in pain and struck out blindly, trying to dislodge the metal digging into him with little success, all the while calling for Mace to let him up.

“You can either conti- be _quiet_!” The man beneath his cane fell silent, his eyes seeming to go blank as the others had before him. When the man’s struggles ceased, Mace lessened the weight he put on the cane. “You can either continue to fight my apprentice, or you can go with your associates to get paid for your information. It’s your choice, but I would warn you not to underestimate her prowess.”

Yunro glowered at him. She tried to scuttle backwards away from Rey’s staff only to have Rey advance and bring it even closer. She stared at the weapon for a moment longer before spitting to the side. _[“Fine. You win.”]_

Rey stepped back and lowered her staff. Yunro’s wings flapped and she left the ground, a hand coming up to nurse her bruised jaw. She winced as she touched it. _[“Where is my wrench?”]_

“S-L3K, give it back to-” Rey began, but then she spotted the droid hovering overhead, the wrench dangling from its loose grip. Before she could call out to stop it, the droid let the wrench go right onto Yunro’s skull. The Toydarian dropped once again, only this time the impact left her unconscious.

Mace sighed. “I’ll scold you later,” he said to his droid. “We’re not safe here.” He lifted his cane off of the Human’s back and gave him a kick in the side. “Go. Get your bounty. Don’t come back.”

The Human’s eyes seemed to clear and he scrambled to his feet. Without another word or look back, he sprinted away.

“Grab our rations,” Mace said. “And anything important. We won’t be coming back here for a long time.”

“Right,” Rey said. She hurried into their little house, BB-8 following right behind her. It was little more than a room. Only a single lamp hanging from the roof provided any light, save for the cracks in the roof where the panels had been dislodged or rusted away. Though dusty, it was otherwise clean of clutter and garbage, a point Nenn had strictly enforced. Nets hung from the ceiling against the walls full of tools and parts. 

Their beds were against the far wall, Nenn’s a cot on the ground and Rey’s a hammock hung above it. Rey leaned her staff against the wall and kneeled to move Nenn’s cot aside. She swept her hands across the dust, revealing the outline of a hatch hidden beneath.

As she pulled out everything stored in the hatch, she heard a speeder pull up to the house. She turned her head and jumped to her feet, grabbing her staff as she readied for another fight.

“Are you Nenn N’ka?” someone, a man, asked.

“I am. What do you want?”

“You have a droid, right? A little orange and white BB uni-”

“Someone else beat you to it,” Nenn said. “They’re on their way to collect the bounty for reporting it.”

“I’m not here for the bounty! I’m here for my droid!”

Rey frowned at the man’s words, only to look down in surprise as BB-8 gave a shrill cheer and sped out of the hut.

“BB-8!” the man exclaimed. “Buddy! There you are! You’re alright!”

Rey stepped to the door. The speeder had come with three people, a blue Aleena woman and two Human men. The Aleena was obviously another scrap salvager, judging by her attire for wording off the sun. The men, however, were not. The one she had heard speaking was a scraggly-haired man about her age. His clothing looked somewhat worn, but it appeared more casual than utilitarian. The other however wore a skin-tight, black bodysuit with white, red, and gold armor plating on his legs and boots.

Rey had never seen a neotrooper before. Jakku was technically within the New Republic, and as it was only known for its supply of old ship parts it was surely not of particular interest to the First Order. But she had heard of them from merchants and new arrivals who had been within First Order space.

Her staff went up and she charged the second man. His eyes were on the first man until he spotted her movement, and when he saw her expression his eyes went wide with alarm. “Heyheyhey!” he exclaimed as he hurried to the other side of the speeder. Rey jabbed her staff across it at him, forcing him to lurch his body backwards to avoid its reach. “Wait a second!”

“You’re a neotrooper!” Rey spat.

“No wait, it’s okay!” Poe said, jumping to his feet. “He’s not with them anymore!”

_[“Talk it out later!”]_ Styks said, looking back at the way they had come. _[“The First Order is coming right_ now!” _]_ She jumped back into her seat and revved the engine.

“Rey!” Mace said. “She’s right. They’re here. We need to go.”

Rey withdrew her staff, shooting the ex-neotrooper a dark look before hurrying back to her speeder. She tossed the bag of rations from inside to Nenn as she jumped onto the driver’s seat and began reigniting the engines.

Mace looked back at the three new arrivals. “Do you have a ship?” he asked.

“Not one that can carry all of us,” Poe said.

As he said it, a sound drew all of their attention. When they looked back, a squad of neotroopers aboard stand-up single-person speeders rounded a corner. One shouted as they saw BB-8, who Poe had placed atop one of the nets on Styks’ speeder, and the eight speeders accelerated.

Mace shut his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine. Then follow us,” he said, and Rey gunned the engine.

Rey had made it a point to never travel fast through Overseer even when she had been in a hurry. The streets were often too narrow for traffic to pass through quickly as people and vehicles alike were forced to funnel down to get through.

So it was that the escape was unlike anything she had ever done. The neotrooper speeders were fast, forcing her to drive the speeder to move as fast as it could go while still making the winding turns through Overseer’s maze-like roads. People leapt aside as the speeder barreled past, barely missing them. More than once, Rey felt the fabric of a person’s clothes slap her leg as they passed.

The First Order speeders were far more nimble than Rey’s and Styks’ own. Being as narrow as they were, they could fit around corners with more ease. They began to close the gap between them and Styks’ speeder frighteningly fast.

S-L3K detached itself from Rey’s speeder and fell back to Styk’s speeder. It grabbed ahold and spider-crawled its way to the back before throwing itself at the closest speeder. The neotrooper aboard it tried to strike it away, but the droid’s many limbs struck at the soldier from too many directions at once for them to guard against, all the while one of the limbs went to work dismantling to speeder’s controls.

S-L3K let go of the speeder and flung itself back to Styks’ just as they came to a sharp corner. The neotrooper tried to slow and steer with no success before crashing into wall at full speed. The speeder erupted into a ball of flames, forcing the neotroopers behind to dodge.

The move gave the escapees a little more room. But as they reached a straight stretch of the road, three of the neotrooper speeders took the lead side by side. Twin cannons at their feet began to glow.

Mace gestured for Styks to take the lead. As Rey moved aside and Styks sped ahead, he reached his hand back towards Rey’s satchel. As if on a string, his lightsaber flew out and straight to his hand. The purple blade burst forth even as the neotroopers shots burned the air past them. It flashed as he swung it forward, catching one shot aimed for his chest and sending it into the ground.

Another bolt bounced off of his blade, this time aimed back at the speeder that had fired it. The laser ripped through it and into its driver, who immediately collapsed as his speeder slammed into the ground.

The other two speeders stopped firing at the surprising development. Mace readied himself for another volley, but they instead slowed and fell back. Not taking his eyes off of them though, he leaned back so that he could be heard by Rey. “We’re going back to the valley again.”

“What? Why?” Rey asked.

“My ship is there.”

“Your sh-” Rey began, but she cut herself off. Now was not the time for questions.

She hurried ahead of Styks and led them out of the city. Once they reached the open hills, they drove their engines to their maximum.

Free of the narrow roads, the six remaining neotroopers spread out as they pursued. They seemed to regain some confidence and resumed firing. Mace returned their shots as before, but the troopers took advantage of the open space by swerving about to avoid the lasers.

They seemed at a stalemate, neither side able to hit the other. Styks sped ahead then, gesturing for Rey to follow her up the slope away from the road. As expected, the speeders followed, which was just as the Aleena wanted. When the slope leveled out, she aimed for a small, sandy pond.

The two speeders thundered by the Kinbagh’s waiting place. The creature underneath the sand started in surprise and raised its head above the ground. When it heard the oncoming neotroopers, it readied itself, and just as they passed overhead, it leaped.

Massive, powerful jaws clamped down on speeder and driver alike. The kinbagh’s entire body breached the surface and for a brief instant, as the other troopers sped away in shock and horror, it hung silhouetted against the horizon with its prey dangling from its vicious teeth.

Styks cackled in joyous satisfaction that the idea had worked, and in more ways than she had intended. The remaining five troopers stopped firing and fell back once more, only this time they turned around completely and sped back towards Overseer.

Mace extinguished his lightsaber and his body slumped in fatigue. The neotroopers were intelligent, he had to admit, but it seemed to work in their favor for the moment. Battledroids would have just kept coming and never let up firing. At his age, eventually one shot would have made it through. If the troopers had had any idea just how close several of their shots had come to getting through, he did not think they would be retreating now.

He doubted he could hold them off again.

“Are they giving up?” Rey asked.

“No!” Finn shouted from Styks’ speeder. “They’re regrouping. They didn’t expect a Jedi.” He shook his head, his expression one of disbelief. “Neither did I, for that matter.” He pointed to the sky above Overseer. “They’re going to track us until O-NE fighters arrive.”

The First Order’s drop ship had risen and started making its way for them. Rey chanced a glance back to see it and she scowled. “We can’t outrun that,” she said. “Nenn, where are we going?”

“The Magistrate. My ship is there.”

“Your ship is _where?!”_

“What’s the Magistrate?” Poe asked.

Rey gave Nenn an exasperated look before looking to Poe. “It’s an Imperial star destroyer wreckage.”  
  


“Like Overseer?”

“Only not in as good of shape. There isn’t much to salvage and the risk isn’t worth what there is.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“Falling through the floor or something falling on you,” Rey said. “And then there’s something living in there.”

“What?”

Rey shrugged. “No one knows.” She looked at Nenn. “Or is that just some rumor you made up to keep people away?”

Mace shook his head. “No, there is something. Last time I checked on my ship, it stalked me. But I did not see it.” He waved his hand. “It won’t be an issue. And I know a safe way through to my ship. We’ll be fine.”

“Does your ship have guns?” Finn asked. “The O-NE fighters won’t let us go.”

Mace shifted his weight. “It has guns. Whether they work…”

“Oh, come on! Really?!”

_[“If they don’t work, I will make them,”]_ Styks said. She pointed to S-L3K and BB-8. _[“They can help.”]_

Rey nodded. “Me too.” She smiled at Finn. “We know how to fix old junk.”

Finn shook his head. “I can’t believe this.”

Poe grinned. “Have a little faith in our new comrades, Finn. They’ll get us through.” He tilted his head as he looked at Mace and Rey. “Though maybe they could share why they’re helping.”

“The First Order’s reputation did not suggest they would give us the opportunity to show we no longer had your droid,” Mace said. “And since we’ve been seen with you now, they will simply assume we are working with you. We need to leave.”

Poe shrugged. “So leave. You didn’t need to bring us along.”

Mace fell silent. When he did not respond after several seconds, Rey smirked. “I think he’s got a little bit of good will still in him.”

He sighed. “It will wane thin if you push it too much.”

Poe nodded. “I’m fine with that. I was just curious.” He turned and looked up at the First Order’s drop ship tailing them. “How far to this ship of yours?”

Mace pointed to the mountains rapidly drawing closer. “Once we’re through the canyon, the Magistrate is just to the west. The canyon will give us cover from their fighters, but after that we’ll be exposed until we get inside.” He looked at Styks and Rey. “You two will need to avoid them.”

They reached the mouth of the canyon. As the walls rose up over them, they hugged their speeders close to the sides. With the weaving of the rocky walls to hide them, the First Order dropship disappeared from view even as it tried to keep an eye on them from above. For the moment, at least, they were away.

“Once they give up trying to spot us, they’ll fly ahead,” Finn said. “They may even drop the speeders again; with the O-NE fighters for support, they may think they can best a Jedi this time.”

Mace shook his head. “And they would. I spent everything I had back there.” He scowled. “We need another way to the Magistrate.”

Rey furrowed her brow. “On foot, I could reach the Magistrate in less than an hour. It would be easier to avoid notice.”

To her surprise, Mace did not immediately shoot down her suggestion. “Trooper, how long could we wait them out?”

Finn’s eyes darted from side to side as he thought. “Depends. If we stay hidden, we might have a half hour. But…”

“But?”

“If we stop at the exit and force a standoff, they may wait a bit longer to call for reinforcements.”

Mace nodded. “Then we’ll need to lure them.” He looked to Rey and nodded. “Take S-L3K with you. You’ll need its help to get the engines started.” He held his lightsaber out to her. “The ship is in the starboard hangar.”

Rey looked back and started to reach for the blade but stopped. After a moment of hesitation, she put her hand back on the speeder’s handle. “You will need it more,” she said. “I won’t have blasters firing at me.”

“The creature living inside is nothing to take lightly.”

“I’m not,” she said. “But I can defend myself. And S-L3K can help.”

S-L3K buzzed a response at her, angrily shaking its body in denial.

“I’m not asking you to fight it one on one,” Rey said. “Just give it reason to give us distance if it gets too bold.”

The droid grumbled in response but did not offer any more refusals.

“I’ll go with you,” Finn said.

“No,” Mace said flatly. Before Finn could protest, he said, “The First Order is looking for you two, your droid, and now a Jedi. They need to see we’re here, otherwise they will go looking. Rey is the least interesting to them.”

_[“Then I will go,”_ ] Styks said. _[“I am just of as little interest to them as her.”]_

Mace paused before nodding. “You two know how to drive these speeders?” he asked, looking at Poe and Finn. They nodded and he looked back to Styks. “Then yes. Go with her.”

They traveled deeper into the canyon as fast as they could push their speeders through its turns. Though they kept their eyes on the sky, the First Order dropship seemed to have done as Finn had said and gone ahead to intercept them.

Rey indicated for them to stop as they neared the one lone pond of water. As before when they had left the valley only yesterday (it seemed so long ago now), she looked to it for signs that the Kinbagh there had not decided to come towards them. Though it seemed to pay them no heed, she steered the speeder to the far side of the ravine. After seeing the Kinbagh outside Overseer make such short work of the First Order trooper, she had no wish to try her luck.

Styks hopped down from her speeder and brushed herself off. _[“Another Kinbagh?”]_ she asked. Rey nodded and Styks looked to Mace. _[“If you have to retreat, this is the best place to settle in at. If they’re smart, they will be careful and slow here. If they are dumb, it will do your work for you.”]_

“We will retreat regardless. They need to think they are winning,” Mace said. “Once you have cleared the O-NE fighters, meet us here. It is wide enough for you to land.”

Rey gave him a level look. “Don’t do anything reckless, okay?”

An amused smile showed on his face. “That’s my line,” he said. The smile faded. “If we are beaten, no heroics. Don’t try to free or avenge us.”

Rey stared at him almost as if insulted. “What, just leave you behind?”

“If it comes down to that: yes.”

_[“Then you better not let it come to that, Nenn N’ka,”]_ Styks said. _[“I don’t think she will listen if you do.”]_

Mace looked down to her. “You’re Styks, right?”

The Aleena pulled her head back in surprise. _[“You know me?”]_

“You were one of the few scavengers I did not think would ever give us trouble,” Mace said.

_[“I’m not so stupid to mess with someone like you. Now that I know you’re a Jedi, I am very glad I didn’t.”]_

“Then keep that caution. If the worse comes to pass, do not disobey me and try to save us; you get yourself and Rey out of this system.”

Styks gave a short laugh. _[“You don’t need tell me twice.”]_

Mace looked back at Rey. “Am I clear?”

She did not respond right away, only glaring at him instead. As the silence quickly passed into awkward, Poe shot Finn an uneasy glance before clearing his throat. “Well, uh.. if it’s a _little_ risky, don’t leave us for dead, you know.”

If looks could kill, the one Mace gave him then might have made him burst into flames. The old man’s single eye showed its age, but the sternness behind it was undoubtable. It was enough to make him flinch, but he forced himself to not back down.

“I won’t,” Rey said. “And I won’t listen to you on this, old man. I won’t leave you behind for anything.”

Mace sighed. “Stubborn child.” He shook his head. “You need to go. We need to get to the valley before they think we’re hiding.”

Rey nodded. “I’ll be back for you.”

She slung her staff into its harness at her back and turned away. With a nod from Styks, the two of them and S-L3K moved hurriedly towards the canyon wall and started climbing.

Mace watched them for a minute before getting back onto his speeder. Once Poe and Finn were situated on Styks’ speeder with Poe in the driver’s seat, he ignited the engine. “Follow my lead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the story is proving to be enjoyable thus far. Jakku is almost done, and soon we'll be on our way to the larger galaxy beyond.


	9. The First Step Into a Larger World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to leave Jakku, but the First Order has other ideas. Rey and Styks must hurry to save their comrades from the clever grip of FA-8299.

The Magistrate’s crash was nearly twenty years old and yet its mark on the land had yet to fully recover. The Imperial Star Destroyer, in an effort to outmaneuver a Rebel Alliance ship, had been travelling quickly when it was struck down. Rather than drop nearly vertically like many of the destroyed ships across Jakku had done, it had struck at a shallow angle and skid far and deep across the landscape. Two large ridges stretching for miles to the horizon marked its deadly last moments.

The Magistrate itself had only come to a stop when it struck the mountains, which had completely obliterated its front half. The remaining half had split across its port and the bridge had fallen forward onto the hull. Gaping holes from the shots that had brought it down and from its tumultuous ending littered its exterior.

Grasses and shrublands had begun to reclaim the scar in the land, but regions of barren sand and dirt still marred the region. Since scavengers had given up on salvaging anything further from the wreckage, the grasses had even begun to grow on the ship itself where sand and dirt blown by the winds had collected.

Rey paused as she looked down at the scene. She felt a twinge of fear as she did, though from what she was not quite sure. There was the danger of the ship’s stability and the lurking beast within, but it felt like more than that. The fear seemed almost not her own, much like how Nenn had led her to feel the emotions of those around her in Overseer. But it was not Styks’ fear; the Aleena was wary, but impatience dominated her feelings more than anything else.

She wondered if the emotions of the dead could leave an imprint in the Force. Was it possible she was sensing an echo of the emotions of the Magistrate’s crew in their final moments? Or was she just trying to pass off her own emotions as something else?

Styks spoke then, breaking her from her thoughts. _[“The starboard hangar is too high to reach. And I would not trust the hull to walk on. Nenn N’ka chose a good hiding place.”]_

Rey looked over the hangar. The ship’s resting orientation put it several hundred feet in the air. And she had to agree with Styks; while they could climb onto the hull from where it dug into the ground, she doubted there was a safe path they could use. The panels were rusted, warped, and loose, and so much of the structure had fallen through the years that it was only a matter of time before the rest of it followed. Their weight would be more than enough to trigger the collapse in some areas.

Which meant they had to go through the inside. Rey saw the entrance she figured Nenn, with his less-agile body, would have used to enter. It was a scorched hole, one left by some Rebel Alliance ship’s heavy cannons, which was partially buried in the ridge thrown up by the crash.

Knowing Nenn, he would have made regular checks on the ship. He had taught her to check on hidden stashes at least twice a year, and she doubted he had broken that rule here. If so, then there had to still be a safe path through the ship despite its ruin.

Rey, Styks, and S-L3K hurried down the mountainside. As they reached the entrance hole, Rey pointed up towards the hangar. “Sleek, you know the way to the hangar?”

The droid nodded its body in affirmation. Then it pointed up towards the hangar and spoke in a bored, monotonous tone.

“You want to go ahead? Are you saying that because you think it’s actually better, or because you don’t want to meet that creature?” Rey asked. S-L3K’s hesitation in answering was all the answer she needed and she shook her head. “Just lead us. The faster we get there, the sooner all three of us can get it working.”

The droid slumped its arms in resignation and muttered something foul before heading in. Styks smiled in amusement. _[“This one’s last owner must have been ready to throw it in a trash compactor with that attitude.”]_

They climbed through the hole, Rey ducking her head to avoid the hanging wires. The halls were completely dark and S-L3K had to turn on a beam of light to illuminate the way for them. They moved fast, though not at a run; the floors were too uneven and held too many pitfalls for them to risk it.

“I’m not sure,” Rey replied. “Some other scavenger found him, but Unkar didn’t even think enough of him was left to sell and put him in a smelting shipment. Nenn and I had to do a lot to fix him.”

_[“It does not seem very grateful. It was an Imperial probe droid, right? Their droids always were rude.”]_

“I think so. But he was only a head piece, and not even a whole one. And he won’t say if you ask him.”

_[“Maybe when we are free of this planet, you will be able to buy a better droid.”]_

“No!” Rey protested. “I’m not replacing him.”

S-L3K turned about, its light shining in Rey’s and Styks’ faces. It spoke angrily, chiding them before turning back to look ahead.

“Hey, I said I won’t replace you.” Rey shook her head in exasperation.

With S-L3K guiding them, it was not long before they reached the hangar. And despite all the rumors, they encountered no creature on the way or even a sign that one was there. That was fine with Rey; they had too little time to waste. By now, she knew Nenn and the others had to be facing the First Order. With only Nenn’s lightsaber, she doubted they would be doing much fighting. They could only run, and it would not take them long to retreat back to the Kinbagh’s pond.

The hangar was a mess. The racks which had once held fleets of TIE fighters above had collapsed, many of the old fighters with them, making the place a maze of metal beams and fighter pieces. Several avian creatures nesting amidst the junk started at their arrival and flew out as a flock.

Rey did not immediately see Nenn’s ship. The wreckage made it difficult to see much of anything. S-L3K had to lead them through the destruction before she finally saw it.

_[“Oh, that is very old,”]_ Styks said, aghast.

The ship was unlike any Rey had seen come or go from Jakku. It was narrow and wedge-like, sporting two domes on its front. Its wings sloped down from its top, wider than the ship was long. Its body flared out towards the bottom, plated in heavy armor. The ship had obviously been modified from its original form, as well; Two clear pods were mounted on either side of it, but the narrow passages leading to them looked out of place and were obviously not part of the original design. The hyperdrive mounted on top of the ship’s wings between its engines was also a later addition.

“What is this thing?” Rey asked.

_[“An old Republic military transport,”]_ Styks said. _[“Nenn N’ka must have gotten one as surplus after the Clone Wars ended. Crazy old man never replaced it.”]_ She grimaced. _[“These were not meant for hyperspace travel.”]_

“But it has a hyperdrive, so it must be able to.”

_[“If it works,”]_ Styks said. She broke into a run to it. _[“I’ll check it. Get the ship started and make sure the gun pods are working.”]_

Rey and S-L3K went to the ship as Styks jumped onto the wing and climbed it to the hyperdrive. S-L3K placed one of its arms into a port on the side of the ship. A hiss escaped it as it unsealed and its sides slid back, revealing the ship’s hollow interior. Rey climbed in and squeezed through the narrow passage to the pilot’s seat while S-L3K went through the added-on passage to the left gun pod.

Rey knew how to fly, or the basics at least. More than once, she had had to fly one of Unkar’s scrap transports from settlement to settlement to pick up their collections. It was not a complicated flight, but it was enough to learn how to get a ship started and not crash it. As it was, the controls had writing over them – in Nenn’s handwriting, she guessed – to indicate their functions, making the process of starting the ship much simpler.

As she flipped switches and pressed buttons, the consoles began to light up. Then the engines began to hum, and Styks shouted triumphantly as the hyperdrive powered up without issue.

With the engines warming up, Rey climbed out of the pilot’s seat and went to the other gun pod. She could hear sparks as S-L3K worked in the left pod, which she could only assume meant that they had not been as fortunate surviving the years as the rest of the ship. Her supposition proved correct when she seated herself in the right pod; though the power was on, nothing in the pod was, and no amount of flipping switches or pressing buttons provoked any response.

After a minute, Styks climbed down from the roof. _[“How do they look?”]_

“They’re not turning on,” Rey said. She climbed out of the pod and opened a panel in the roof. Panels inside were lit up to indicate power was flowing through the ship, and she stared at it in frustration that it offered no indication of why the pods were lifeless. “Sleek, any guesses?”

The droid’s reply was straight-forward, not betraying any of its usual irritation or orneriness. At its direction, Rey went to the back of the frame for the the pilot’s seat and pried it open. Another circuit awaited her inside with five lights. “Targeting is red,” she said.

_[“Bypass it,”]_ Styks said. _[“We don’t have the parts to fix something that old.”]_

Rey reached into her satchel and produced a set of clippers. She set to work detaching cables and splicing them together. Styks went to the pilots seat and began running startup checks.

The system was complex, but Rey had done enough electrical work that bypassing the targeting computer was only a matter of time rather than skill. She knew what to do, which wires needed to be cut and rerouted. If this was the only issue the ship had, then she felt confident they would be flying easy. It would be difficult to target the O-NE fighters without the computer, but she figured she could do her own aiming.

So caught up was Rey in her task that she almost did not hear the hiss behind her. At first she thought it was something related to the ship’s systems still warming up. Then she remembered the rumored creature.

She acted before she had realized she was moving and darted to the side as a heavy, prehensile limb that had been aimed at her head slammed into the paneling. The four blade-like claws at its end slashed across the metal, drawing sparks that flashed like struck flint. Rey ducked as the limb swung at her before leaping out the opposite side of the ship’s open bay.

Her staff was out of its harness and into her hands in an instant as she turned to face the creature. A freezing chill swept through her as she saw it.

The creature sat atop the ship, hunched over. Its body, covered in course brown fur with dark green stripes, was vaguely similar to that of a large, bulky primate. From its rear extended its bladed tail which was much longer than the rest of its body. The creature’s face was wide and devoid of fur, instead covered in large, multi-layered scales. Its eyes, as black as night and glinting like pearls, were gaunt and situated deep in its skull.

The creature climbed forward onto the ship’s wing, its tail raising over its body scorpion-like as it poised for another strike. Its lips parted to reveal irregular, needle-like teeth as it hissed at Rey.

It leaped at her, its tail darting ahead of its body to strike at her even as its arms spread wide, ready to grab her with its powerful hands. Rey leaped out of its path and jabbed her staff at its head, the blow connecting solidly just under its right eye.

Its tail swung at her blindingly fast. Again, she moved before she had even registered it was attacking, but it was not enough to evade the strike completely. The claws ripped through the shoulder of her tunic, grazing her skin and cutting through it effortlessly. She gasped at the sudden pain but did not let it throw her off, instead swinging her staff at the tail as hard as she could. The creature yelped in response and pulled its tail back to safety, raising it to strike again.

A dagger flew through the air and embedded itself in the creature’s side. The beast produced a shrill howl as it staggered away.

_[“GET IN!!!”]_ Styks bellowed from the ship.

Rey darted for the ship and dove in. As soon as she landed, Styks slammed a control and the large blast doors slid shut. The creature lunged for Rey only to strike the armored exterior. It slammed itself into the doors several times trying to break through, but for the moment it seemed the doors would hold.

Rey rolled over onto her back, breathing heavily. “What is that thing?” she asked.

_[“No idea,”]_ Styks said. They both looked up as they heard a thump. The creature had climbed on top of the ship. _[“But we need to go now before it tries to break something sensitive.”]_

Rey nodded as she sat up. “I’ll get us flying. Finish the guns.” As Styks turned to hurry to the right-side gun pod’s seat, she added, “And thank you.”

She gave Rey a toothy grin. _[“Wait to thank me until we’re free.”]_

*** * ***

FA-8299 had experienced a lot as a First Order captain. She had survived defeats and accidents, celebrated many a victory, witnessed heroics and cowardice and intelligence and stupidity, faced seemingly insurmountable odds, and seen some of the most unbelievable feats of chance and coincidence.

Any time something new happened that she did not expect, she had survived by adapting as fast as she could. In the ever-changing environment of combat, it was necessary to be just as swift in her head as she was on her feet.

But for every unexpected event, it had at least come across as something reasonable. A stray fighter crashing into headquarters was a freak of chance, but in a battle with them being shot down all around it was not wholly unusual. An insurgent disguised as someone she trusted was shocking in the moment, but in war it was all but inevitable.

A Jedi, however, was another matter entirely.

When she saw the lightsaber, she could only assume its wielder was an ordinary person that had somehow come into possession of something so unique. But as trooper after trooper went down by reflected laser shots, the evidence was undeniable. Up against such an unexpected foe, it seemed the logical action to order a retreat and regroup.

Now that they were better prepared and no longer suffered from the shock of such a surprise, they waited. She and her troops waited on their bellies, sitting low behind the scraggly bushes which lined the slope sitting beside the canyon’s exit. When their targets emerged, the plan was to cut them off from a retreat back into the gorge. Once stuck in the open, the O-NE fighters would make short work of them. Not even a Jedi could counter such an onslaught.

Or so she hoped. FA-8299 had had no time to research the capabilities of the Jedi. The legends of those such as Skywalker made them out to be god-like and effectively invincible. She knew better than to trust such exaggerated tales, but she could not help but wonder just how far from the truth they actually were. A Jedi could be killed, of that she was certain. But what would it cost?

The sound of the speeders’ engines rose from the canyon mouth. The time for thoughts and doubts was passed, and FA-8299 readied her rifle. Her troopers beside her did the same and she raised her hand, fingers extended, to signal a wait. Timing was imperative for this to work; too early and their quarry would return to the safety of the canyon, but too late and they would have time to respond to the O-NE fighters and turn around. If she and her troopers were not ready to repel them by then, they would race past with too much chance of escaping unharmed. Jedi had good instincts; their window would be narrow.

And then everything went wrong.

The speeders stopped. They were far too deep into the canyon for her to cut them off, and if she ordered an attack the Jedi would have more than enough warning to repel their shots. She kept her hand raised.

The O-NE fighters, four in total, sat atop the sides of the canyon out of sight, hoping to create a false sense of security with clear skies. By all measures, the speeders had no way of knowing where they were.

But they were not stupid, she knew that. When nothing happened, the speeders remaining still as hushed voices passed between the occupants, FA-8299 wondered if they were simply taking stock of what they could see. FN-2187 had to have suggested some of their possible tactics, which she could only hoped would work in her favor. He would have expected them to be waiting in the open, likely barricaded with mobile shields and turrets and the O-NE fighters hovering overhead to immediately begin their shots. Her usual tactic would have been to set up such checkpoints at both ends of the canyon, and while she had indeed done so on the other end, she had her doubts that such a straightforward course of action would work, especially with FN-2187 there to predict her moves.

FN-2187… Her mind momentarily wandered to the elevator. She hoped she had made the right choice.

“Captain, do we go?” asked a voice on the comm.

FA-8299 rose her head to get a better look at the speeders. She froze as she did. No sooner had her gaze cleared the bushes that the Jedi, his face barely visible under his hood, turned from his companions and looked straight at her.

He knew.

Her thoughts raced. If the Jedi had stopped even a hundred feet further, then she could have risked prematurely springing the trap. But from here there was too much space and they would have too little time. She cursed herself for not making sure sniping equipment had been loaded onto the transport before coming to the surface.

From here, it would take too long for her troopers to get to defensible positions to fire from. Some would get shots in, but she doubted any would get past the Jedi’s blade. Springing the trap too soon would require them to pin them against the barricade on the other end of the canyon, a tactic that would take too long and likely give the Jedi too many chances to pick her troopers off one by one.

The Jedi, FN-2187, and the Resistance spy had two options. Either progress forward into her trap or retreat. If they retreated of their own accord, then it would be more feasible to harrass them back to the barricade.

She took a long breath as she made her decision. If she acted now, she risked their success. They needed to wait for the Jedi to move first.

“Captain?”

“Stay hidden,” FA-8299 said. “Do not go.”

“They’re just sitting there.”

“They’re trying to lure us out and show our hand,” FA-8299 said. “Let them make the first move.”

They had to make the first move, after all, didn’t they? They had no escape from the canyon. If they waited too long, reinforcements would be along to overwhelm them. FN-2187 had to know this. With a Jedi on the field, she had no doubt Kylo Ren would be among the reinforcements. They stood no chance in such a case.

She looked them over again and her eyes went to the droid. All this for that little ball of metal. Her entire accompaniment against it and three men.

Three? She frowned. Her troopers had reported five. The traitor, the spy, the Jedi, and a Human girl and an Aleena. The last two did not seem important – she had no idea who they were and they had done nothing of note, as far as she was aware – but they had been there all the same. So where were they now?

The realization did not sit well with her. Two scrap scavengers hardly seemed a threat. But her foes were intelligent, she knew this. With FN-2187 in particular, she knew how resourceful he could be. If their two other companions had disappeared, it had to be for a reason.

“FH-6512,” she said, addressing the lookout atop the canyon. “Look around. Do you see anyone?”

The trooper was silent as she surveyed the scene. “Nobody else is in the canyon,” she said.

“No, on top of it. Do you see anyone up there?”

“I don’t, no.”

“Keep your eyes open. There were two others with them that aren’t here now. They might be trying to sneak around us.”

“Do you want a fighter to patrol?”

FA-8299 smiled. She liked the girl’s ideas sometimes, and it gave her one of her own. “Yes. Send the two on your side.”

The Jedi, FN-2187, and the Resistance spy looked up as the O-NE fighters’ engines revved up. The two ships crossed over the canyon and FA-8299 saw her quarries ready to turn and run. But when the fighters’ engines faded as they flew away, they hesitated.

“That’s right, we just left,” FA-8299 muttered. “You fooled us, we’re off to catch you trying to double back. Make your run for it.”

Only, the Jedi’s gaze turned back to her. Not just in her general direction; it seemed he was focusing specifically on her. Her unease grew, and she could feel herself wanting to launch the ambush prematurely. If he knew, they were not going to spring her ambush. Not on her terms, at least.

But if he knew… why did they not flee now?

She frowned. Again, she felt something was wrong. The Human girl and the Aleena came to mind. If they were waiting, they were waiting for those two. But were they waiting for them to catch up? Or something else?

And if they were waiting for her ambush, were they counting on her to attack them?

She needed a different plan.

“FK-9200, move into the canyon,” she said.

“We won’t have aerial support in there, captain.”

“The aerial support doesn’t matter; they’re waiting us out. The Jedi, the spy, and the traitor are here, but the other two are not. They’re trying to draw my party in. You need to come up on them from behind. Now.”

“We’re on our way.”

She would give them a minute more and then spring the trap. That would drive them back and hopefully straight into the waiting maw of FK-9200’s party.

A distant sound met her ears. Engines. But not O-NE engines. She looked in the direction it had come from to a decrepit Star Destroyer a short distance away against the mountainside.

Her eyes widened as a something small emerged from it. Moving quickly, she grabbed her scopes and raised them to her helmet.

She blinked in disbelief at what she saw. A LAAT? An ancient transport from the Clone Wars. It was modified, but its unique, snout-like shape was unmistakable.

That was their plan.

She jumped to her feet “Get to your speeders! Go!” she barked.

Surprised at her sudden move, the neotroopers scrambled up and sprinted – clumsily at first as they caught their balance on the slope – to their speeders.

“All fighters, they have a ship coming from the west! Take off and bring it down!” FA-8299 shouted into her comm.

* * *

Mace stared calmly when he saw the neotrooper captain spring up from her hiding place. Her shouts betrayed their urgency, and he knew it was time. “Let’s go,” he said.

Finn turned Mace’s speeder around and waited for Poe to do the same with Styks’ speeder. He let him go first before maxing out the speeder’s accelerator. A few moments later he heard the howl of First Order speeders behind them.

He gritted his teeth as he banked around a corner. Under his breath, he muttered, “I can do this. I can do this.”

*** * ***

“I can do this. I can do this,” Rey chanted to herself.

Barely had they left the Magistrate that she saw four specks in the distance, two from above the canyon’s exit and two from further in. With Styks and S-L3K still repairing the guns, her only option would be to dodge until they were operational.

But out in the open and with such a sluggish ship she knew that would be all but impossible. The O-NE fighters were likely faster and much nimbler; they would be able to target them regardless of her efforts to evade them.

So, she turned around.

_[“Where are you going?!”]_ Styks shouted in surprise.

“Back to the Magistrate. I have an idea,” Rey said.

Styks stared wide-eyed through the pod’s clear walls to the cockpit. But there was really nothing she could do, was there. At this point, she was entirely in the young girl’s hands.

She mumbled a curse as she resumed her repairs. With the primary power rerouted, the pods had finally activated. However, nothing responded when she tried to use the controls. Something else had gone wrong electronically, and now she was trying to find it. She jumped out of the pod as she went back to the status lights and looked them over.

Why was she doing this? She should have taken the pilot’s seat instead and flown them out of the system. They had a hyperdrive and enough fuel for a single jump; they could have left Nenn to his fate and gone on to survive. It was not like she owed any of them anything.

She knew Rey would never allow that, and at this point it was too late to try and wrest the controls from her. The First Order had seen them and was on its way. The only thing she could do was follow Nenn’s plan and get the gun’s working and hope Rey knew what she was doing.

Rey did not make for the Magistrate’s hangar. Instead she aimed for the massive breach in its hull. She knew the layout of Star Destroyers’ interiors, having salvaged within so many of them. Her heart raced even still; one slip up and they would crash without the O-NE fighters ever firing a single shot.

Red laser bolts flew past the ship and exploded in the air ahead of her. She yelped in surprise, steering away from them. The ship rocked with each near miss, and both occupants of the old ship bounced about in their seats. Styks swore more as her attempts to bring the guns online became a thousand times more difficult by the random jarring.

“Hold on!” Rey shouted as she threw the ship into a steep dive.

The nearby explosions ceased for a moment as the sudden change in direction took them out of the O-NE pilots’ aim. Before them, the gaping maw of the Magistrate rose to meet them.

Rey knew the layout and where to fly, but in the rush to reach the Magistrate she had forgotten one crucial detail: the state of the ship. The paths were there, but the ancient ship’s crash and the simple weathering of time had made them hazardous. Once smooth walls jutted out into their path. Massive structural support beams had pierced through into the chamber. Paneling and cables hung loose from above. Entire sections had caved in, leaving only narrow passages to the regions beyond.

But it was too late to change her mind. They were beyond the point of no return, and she did not have the luxury of time to slow down and carefully navigate the dangerous corridors. With the engines at full thrust, she pressed forward, her eyes darting about frantically trying to determine the safest path through the ship.

She heard laser shots as the O-NE fighters followed them in. The shots struck the sides of the corridor before they reached them, the pilots desperately trying to avoid the hazards of the decrepit ship as they took hasty, unaimed shots.

A particularly large explosion sounded and rocked the ship. One of the fighters had crashed into the wreckage. From behind her, Rey heard Styks shout, _[“Got one!”]_

The corridor was long, but at the speeds they were going Rey knew it would not last long. Soon they would enter the ship’s engines and their advantage of narrow spaces would be lost. If Styks did not have the guns operational by then…

Rey spotted a support beam protruding from the wall almost too late. She steered hard to avoid it. They struck it, though only barely. The sound of such a violent clash of metal was deafening and the whole ship lurched, throwing Rey, Styks, and S-L3K against its sides. It almost ended them; Rey recovered only barely in time to avoid a collapsed portion of the corridor.

Another O-NE fighter was not so fortunate. The protruding beam which had scraped Rey’s ship slashed through the supports to its right engine, sending it into a violent but brief spiral before it collided with the collapsed interior in a deadly ball of flame.

[ _“Got them! We’re clear!”]_ Styks cheered.

Rey frowned. “Where are the other two?!”

_[“Other two?”]_

Rey rounded them into the Star Destroyer’s engine. Light poured in from the exhaust ahead of them. There, silhouetted against the horizon, the other two O-NE fighters hovered in wait.

The laser fire came almost before Rey could register what she was seeing. She veered away from the laser bolts as they burned past, but it was too late now. She knew she would not be able to avoid the shots forever; they would go down long before they reached-

A solid blue beam of light erupted from the right side of her ship. It swept upwards, cutting through one of the O-NE fighters ahead of them like a blade. It erupted into flames and the other fighter pulled away to avoid the blast.

_[“TAKE THAT, FIRST ORDER NERFHERDERS!”]_ Styks shrieked from the now-operational gun pod. She aimed for the next fighter, but it pulled up and disappeared from her line of sight as it went above the Magistrate’s engine.

They burst out of the Star Destroyer’s engine and the O-NE fighter turned and accelerated after them. Styks turned the gun pod to aim behind them, but its position on the side of the old gunship made aiming difficult. The rear-mounted wing of the LAAT kept her from aiming too high and its body meant she couldn’t aim at anything to its left. She managed a couple of quick shots at the fighter, but her laser narrowly missed. The fighter flew erratically and as soon as it realized the gunship’s left laser was still inoperable it kept to that side of them.

Rey tried to steer them into Styks’ line of sight, but the O-NE fighter’s maneuverability outpaced them. Safe from their shots, it resumed firing on them.

Styks jumped out of her seat and scrambled across to the other gunpod. For a moment she thought she might finish S-L3K’s repair job and get the gun online. But barely had she reached it that she stopped and stared at its interior, her expression slack-jawed and in disbelief. S-L3K turned momentarily to look at her before shrugging two of its arms.

The left gunpod was a disaster. Wires were strewn about everywhere and multiple panels were missing. Styks stood in stunned silence for an instant before throwing her arms out in frustration. _[“WHAT IS THIS?!”]_ S-L3K gave a short reply. _[“Repairs?! It looks like a gundark got into it!”]_ S-L3K shook its head and began gesturing to various components of the dismantled controls. Her eyes tracked them and she grimaced in horror. At some point, something had obviously gone wrong with the pod. Wires, transformers, and circuits had melted beyond repair, the result of some old short which had caused them to overheat. Even if S-L3K had not made such a mess, the gunpod would never work again until most of its electronics had been replaced.

Styks jumped back into the right gunpod. _[“Rey! The left gun is ruined! You have to get it on my side!”]_

“I’m trying!”

The O-NE fighter was proving impossible to bring into Styks’ sights. No matter how she moved the old gunship, the pilot of the O-NE fighter remained on their left. It limited how much it could shoot at them, fortunately, but without something drastic they had no way of bringing it down.

So drastic was what she would have to do. “Styks, if you have restraints in there, get them on! It’s going to get bumpy!” She reached over her shoulder and pulled the restraints there over her torso.

She pulled up as hard as the ship could go until they were aimed straight up. With only the sky ahead of them, Rey pushed them higher and higher.

She had no time to doubt herself. What she was about to try could leave them a crater in the ground which was getting increasingly far away. But at this point, what other choice did she have? She would just have to…

Focus. A strange calm settled over her and the world suddenly seemed much larger. She could feel Styks’ barely-constrained panic. She could feel the scalding fury of the O-NE pilot behind them, the agony of losing his fellow soldiers fueling his determination to end her. She could sense the fighter’s sights closing in on them as the pilot prepared to make his final kill shot. She could sense the turbulence of the air outside their ships. She could feel the hull of the old gunship as it slipped through the atmosphere.

And she could see what she needed to do.

She cut the engines. As gravity took hold, she threw the ship into a roll. The O-NE fighter advanced on them as their loss of speed let him close the distance. But he saw the ship begin to turn, no longer flying forward as its right side came about. He tried to accelerate to keep himself to the rear of the old ship, but it was too late.

Styks bared a sharp-toothed grin as the fighter came into view. The gunpod shifted as she took aim. As time seemed to slow, the fighter fired a hasty, panicked shot only for it to fly by the LAAT harmlessly. When Styks’ finger came down on the trigger, such was not the case for the O-NE pilot.

The O-NE fighter burst into flames as her laser slashed through it.

Rey felt the life of the pilot vanish. The suddenness of it surprised her and she gasped. Suddenly the focus was gone. She looked around wildly at nothing in particular as her mind seemed to stall.

And at the same moment, the LAAT began its freefall.

It tumbled as it fell. Rey shook herself out of her stunned state as she became aware of the approaching mountain below them. She hurriedly began reactivating the engines, all the while trying to counter the random spins of the meteoric gunship. The trhusters flared to life as she managed to aim the ship for the ground. They pulled up, the bottom of their hull passing far too close to the ground below for comfort.

She let out a massive breath. They made it. They were alive.

Rey heard an incoherent rambling from Styks’ gunpod. She looked through the cockpit window to it where the Aleena sat upright, stiff as a board looking up as her mouth moved nonstop uttering what she could only assume were a myriad of curses and swears.

After a moment, Styks spotted Rey looking at her. A brief flash of fury swept across her face before relief replaced it. _[“Don’t do that again!”]_ she shouted.

Rey laughed in relief. “But it worked!”

_[“Nenn is going to whip you for that!”]_ Styks laughed. _[“He’ll be so mad that you risked your life to save his.”]_

Rey steered for the canyon. The sky was clear and she made a straight line for it. “Hey, I’ll just tell him it was your idea,” she said with a casual shrug.

She heard scrambling and a moment later Styks appeared beside her, eyes wide. _[“You wouldn’t.”]_

Rey grinned. “No, of course not. We don’t have to tell him how we shot them down.”

Styks slumped over. _[“Just don’t do that again.”]_

*** * ***

Mace heard the sky battle. The shots of the O-NE fighters’ shots were unmistakable even in the depths of the canyon.

When the last explosion sounded, he could not help but wonder: had it been Rey or the First Order pilot?

So when they rounded the last corner and came upon the clearing to find the gunship already waiting, its blast doors open, he breathed in relief.

Finn and Poe accelerated for it. When FA-8299 rounded the corner a moment later and saw the gunship, her eyes widened in shock. They were too late.

But she was not about to let that stop her. She had been showing caution because of the Jedi’s lightsaber deflecting their shots, more concerned with harrying them until the contingent from the other side of the canyon arrived to pin them. But now they were out of time. If they were going to stop them, this was their last chance.

She opened fire and pushed her speeder forward as fast as it could go. The distance between them quickly closed even as she weaved her movements to avoid the shots the Jedi reflected back at her. But despite her efforts one shot found its mark, and though it did not strike her directly, it did hit her speeder’s engine. With only one chance left, FA-8299 jumped onto the handles of her speeder, drawing her pistol from its holster at her side, and leapt forward, her free hand outstretched to grab at the Jedi even as she began firing her pistol.

Some part of her expected to die. The jump put her in range of the Jedi’s deadly blade, after all. In a way, she was almost glad for it; whatever fate awaited her failure at the hands of Kylo Ren would surely be worse. Later, she would wonder if she had made the move as an impulsive suicide attempt to avoid his wrath.

But death did not come. In one swift motion, the Jedi’s blade deflected her pistol’s shots before slicing through it and her hand. Then one of his hands released the lightsaber’s grip and gestured up. Suddenly, as if the air itself had taken form, something invisible struck her from below and threw her high. The old Clone Wars gunship passed under her.

The speed of her impact should have ended her then, but again death did not come. Instead of rocky ground, she struck soft sand. It gave away under her and she rolled. The landing hurt perhaps more than any pain she had ever endured, knocking the wind out of her, but it did not kill her.

The gunship’s doors closed as Mace, Finn, Poe, and BB-8 climbed aboard. FA-8299 remained still as she watched the ship begin to rise. She wanted to scream but her chest hurt too much to take more than a shallow breath.

She heard something behind her and rolled her head to look back. Resigned to her fate, she watched as one of the creatures which had killed one of her soldiers outside the Star Destroyer city charged her, the only sign of its presence the mound of lifted sand swiftly approaching her.

“What a way to go,” she muttered.

The Kinbagh leapt. It arced high as it aimed for her, its massive jaws open wide to grab and crush and tear her.

But again, death did not come.

Laser bolts flashed over her into the predator. It shrieked once in its last moment of life before slamming into the ground just before her. Its momentum carried it forward and it rolled over FA-8299 before coming to a silent stop a few feet away.

“Captain!”

She turned her head to see her soldiers dismounting their speeders, the barrels of their mounted guns still glowing from the shots to kill the Kinbagh. As the neotroopers hurried to her, she could only smile at their worry for her.

As darkness quickly took hold of her, she hoped she would live long enough to thank them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is time to bid Jakku farewell. Only took nine chapters to get off that planet; no wonder people get stuck there. Things should start to diverge a bit more from Disney's canon from here on out (though there's still a few more parallels to come).


	10. Farewell Jakku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having escaped the First Order, our ragtag band of unexpected allies hurry away from Jakku and their pursuers. The First Order, meanwhile, readies to follow and finally accomplish their goal.

##  **Chapter 10: Farewell Jakku**

Commander Meeve could only watch as the radar signal of the escaping ship vanished into hyperspace. He lowered his head in defeat.

“Sir?”

He looked up at the neotrooper on the hologram. The trooper had called in to notify him of the ship, but the trooper’s warning had only given them enough time to watch it leave. He thought quickly; that ship contained the coordinates they had yet to retrieve. Without them, their mission was a failure, and an unacceptable one at that.

They were not done.

Meeve looked to his first officer. “Track them. Find out what destination their trajectory may have taken them.”

“Yes, sir.”

He turned back to the hologram. “Where is Captain FA-8299?”

“Injured, sir,” the trooper said. “But alive. The Jedi nearly killed her.”

“Return to the Absolve.”

“We’re already on our way.”

Commander Meeve cut the transmission and shut his eyes. He was not a superstitious man, but he would be more than happy to leave Jakku behind. Nothing had gone right since they had gotten to it. If there was such a thing as bad luck in the universe, the planet embodied it. Once they were free of it, perhaps things would go in their favor.

An alarm sounded.

“Hyperspace arrivals!” the targeting officer shouted. “Commander! It’s the New Republic!”

Meeve turned to the bridge’s central display as an image of Jakku appeared. On the far side of the planet from them, several signatures had appeared and were making their way around the planet towards them.

The officers reacted automatically without Meeve’s input. The Absolve’s shields went up while an alert went out to the ship for neotroopers to ready for battle. Meeve remained quiet as he studied the hologram.

The contingent of ships was few in number. As he had guessed, it was likely a single Resistance cell from Rattatak and had been the nearest available. Rather than wait for others to join it, it had come ahead.

Meeve furrowed his brow as he watched the ships continuing their course. With the coordinates away on the escaped ship, the Resistance ships should have gone after it to rendezvous. Why then were they on an attack course instead?

“They don’t know,” he muttered.

“Sir?” His first officer, Oans, had appeared at his side.

“The Resistance does not know the coordinates have left with the Jedi. Where are the repairs at?”

Oans pressed some controls on the display and it zoomed in on the Absolve. “Finalizing, sir. Everything is in place. The engineers are getting power routed to it now.”

“We only need to hold the Resistance off until then.”

Oans paused. “Sir, it will not take them long to realize the coordinates are gone when they cannot make contact with their spy. They may assume we retrieved them and will pursue.”

Meeve folded his arms. Destroying or deterring the Resistance ships would take longer, but his first officer had a point. Even if they could figure out where the spy was headed with the coordinates, searching for them would take too long before the Resistance arrived in pursuit.

The Resistance ships came to a stop just outside of the Absolve’s effective targeting range, spreading out as they readied to attack. Now that they were in full view, the scanners were able to make out the ships themselves.

In terms of power, the Absolve had them beat. In a head-to-head fight, the Star Eliminator’s cannons would prove far superior. But what they lacked in power, the Resistance ships made up for with their fighters. Likely they would outnumber his O-NE fighters, and once those were overpowered the bombing runs would begin and eventually break through.

“It looks like your idea will get a chance, Oans. Draw them in,” Meeve said.

Oans nodded and looked to the targeting officer. “Direct all batteries at the planet. Target the settlements and begin bombardment.”

“Yes, sir.”

Like a textbook, the battle unfolded as Oans predicted. Fighters launched from both sides to meet in the middle. But well before they clashed, the attack on the surface began.

Blue lasers rained down on Jakku. Though distance and the atmosphere weakened each individual bolt, the sheer volume was enough to pummel the Absolve’s targets. Meeve watched as fireballs, distant and almost insignificant, bloomed on the planet’s surface. And he smiled. After all they had endured at the hands of the cursed planet, it felt good to return misery upon it.

It took little time for the Resistance to respond. The fleet advanced, bringing them into the Absolve’s range. Green bolts rocketed across the emptiness of space, striking against the Absolve’s shields. Though enough to make the Star Eliminator rock from the impacts, the shields held under the barrage.

“Very good, Oans,” Meeve said. “You may target the Resistance.”

The bombardment ended. Seconds later, once the cannons had readjusted and taken aim, the Absolve returned fire on the Resistance.

Meeve watched the hologram of the dogfight happening between them. Several O-NE pilots had fallen, though they had taken many Resistance fighters with them. But with their battlefield now caught in the crossfire, it was obvious the Resistance fighters were in retreat.

One of the Resistance ship’s shields failed. The Absolve’s guns tore through it, its hull burning away as it began to list towards the planet. Explosions peppered its length as its systems self-destructed, until finally an eruption from its destroyed engines tore it in two.

When another ship’s shields fell, it made a desperate attempt to retreat out of the Absolve’s range. If the guns had instead let up and fired on the remaining ships, it might have survived. But instead, seeing the easy target, laser fire intensified on it. It did not last long, and it began to disintegrate under the volley, its gray metallic hull replaced by the red glow of fire.

With only three ships remaining, the Resistance cell knew it had lost. Their shields still intact, they turned to retreat and escape, their fighters hurrying back to land before they were left behind.

“Excellent execution, Oans,” Meeve said, beaming proudly. Finally, something had gone right.

Oans nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

With the last of its fighters aboard, the Resistance ships vanished into hyperspace.

“Cease fire,” Meeve ordered. The cannons fell silent.

As they turned to analyzing their damages and losses, the bridge doors opened. His footsteps heavy, the black-cloaked figure of Kylo Ren approached. Meeve eyed him warily; the young man’s body language did not immediately suggest he was angry. He wondered if the victory had helped to alleviate the force-user’s rage.

“Congratulations, Commander,” Kylo said. “It seems you can do more than fail simple tasks.”

Meeve stared at him. Had anyone else spoken such, he would have made them suffer for it. But volatile as he was and the apprentice of the Empress herself, he knew his recourse was limited. “The day’s luck has finally turned,” he said. “Do you need something?”

“You failed to retrieve the coordinates again, Commander.”

Meeve felt a pulse of fear. Suddenly Kylo’s calmness seemed much more intimidating. It took a moment to steel himself; Kylo was a loose cannon, as his execution of Dalewatcher had proven, but even he would not go as far as to strike down someone of his rank. He needed to choose his words carefully, but he was not at risk of being ruthlessly murdered.

“With Skywalker in regions unknown, there was no reason to expect a Jedi interfering. There was no way to account for it.” When Kylo said nothing, he added, “We are already tracking their last trajectory. When the engines are finished being repaired, we will track them down. Now that we know of the Jedi, they will not evade us again.”

“You’re very good at finding scapegoats. I can see where your soldiers get it from,” Kylo retorted.

Meeve held up his hands in an irritated gesture. “And you find easy targets to blame, sir,” he said, trying to keep his voice level. He took a long breath. “It is impossible to plan for everything, and if we punished every soldier for the machinations of fate, we would have no army.”

“The Empire did not accept failure, Commander. Darth Vader did not forgive incompetence because they blamed random chance. Do you know what he did with those whose weakness got in the way?”

He did know, and Kylo’s meaning was clear. His eyes narrowed. “Are you threatening me, boy?”

Kylo did not respond immediately. In his silence, Meeve became aware of how quiet the rest of the bridge had become. All eyes were turned to him and Kylo; anxiety permeated the air itself as everyone waited to see what would happen.

The central display pinged and a hologram appeared of an engineer. “The hyperdrive is operational, commander. We are clear to make the jump.”

Meeve kept his eyes on Kylo a moment longer before looking to the engineer. “Very good. Prepare for the jump. We are leaving now.”

The hologram vanished and Meeve looked to Kylo once more. “If you are concerned about weakness, then take note who here drove off a Resistance attack with minimal damages.” He forced his shoulders to relax and he straightened his posture. Not taking his eyes off of Kylo, he asked, “Officer Oans, do we have the Jedi’s trajectory?”

“Yes, sir,” Oans replied. “They went in the direction of the Takodana and Jilieda systems.”

“Alert every agent we have in those systems to be on the lookout. Set our course for Takodana, and we will wait there until word of their location arrives. It is time we leave this scrapheap planet behind.”

“Right away, sir.”

Since Kylo had yet to move or speak, Meeve felt the immediate danger of his rage had passed. “Is there anything else?”

Kylo turned, his cape billowing out around him, and began walking away. The matter over, Meeve waited a moment before facing Oans.

He opened his mouth to speak, but he never got the chance. The world lurched and it felt as if the air had grabbed his throat in a vice and lifted him off of his feet. His hands went to rescue his windpipe to no avail, unable to loosen the invisible grip choking the life out of him. The Force spun him back to Kylo, who had stopped but was not facing him.

Meeve reached for his pistol and drew it. Kylo’s lightsaber ignited. Meeve raised his arm and fired. Kylo whirled about, his blade meeting the lasers and deflecting them into the ceiling. Meeve continued to fire even as he felt the world fading away from his blood-starved brain and as his body suddenly was flung towards imminent death. He gritted his teeth, his eyes bulging and his face red, pulling the trigger again and again to no avail.

His last moments slowed. He wanted to scream, scream in rage or for help. Why was no one doing anything? They were all still at their posts, watching in terror but not lifting a finger to prevent what Kylo was about to do. He was about to die, and they were just watching. It was not right! Everything happening now was wrong! He shouldn’t have to die simply because a rabid brat had more power-

He never felt it. If there was pain, it was lost in the numbness. But it was over. As his vision faded and the world around him deafened, Meeve found himself on the ground looking up at his murderer. The grip on his throat did not let up, but he wished it had, if only to curse him.

But he never got that chance, and the world vanished.

* * *

The realm of hyperspace held Finn in a trance. It was not the first time he had seen it, but this time seemed different. The spiraling field of blue and white streaks seemed encroaching yet vast, a sight unmatched by anything else he had ever experienced. In all his jumps, he had eventually grown used to the unique sight as a normal facet of life in space. But this time, he felt as if he were seeing it for the first time.

Maybe because he never expected to survive to see it again.

Yet here he stood, cramped by the small space he shared with his surprising companions, shaken by vibrations humming through the ancient ship’s hull, and barely holding himself up as his muscles finally relaxed in relief and fatigue. Somehow, against all odds, they had made it.

The ship was obviously not made for comfort, though that did not surprise him. What surprised him most was that the ship even flew. He had seen its like many times in the First Order training academy, and so he knew just how ancient it was. That it could fly, let alone travel through hyperspace, was simply baffling. But far be it from him to complain.

As it was, the close quarters were not that bothering to him; it was not much different than standing in a First Order drop ship. And with far fewer people than in that case, he actually found it to be a roomier situation. And with as few of them as there were, the small space did not seem to be a bother for the others either.

Which was not to say that everyone was happy to be on the ship.

“Don’t you understand? I have to get this back!” he heard Poe say, his voice raised.

Finn looked over his shoulder down the passage to the pilot’s seats. Poe stood there, looking up at Mace who had taken over piloting as soon as he had gotten aboard. Though there was a copilot seat, the Jedi had deactivated its controls to keep Poe from interfering.

“I am not getting involved with your war,” Mace replied. “When we reach Takodana, you can get your own ship.”

“The longer it takes to get this back in the hands of Chancellor Organa, the more time the First Order has to take it again! Do you think they won’t try to follow us?” When Poe got no reply from Mace, he gave a frustrated sigh. “And I thought Jedi helped people,” he muttered as he walked back to the hold.

Finn stepped over to give room for Poe to join him. “We should have some time,” he said, trying to reassure him. “The Absolve’s hyperdrive still needs to be repaired.”

“They have to be getting close to finishing that,” Poe said. “We won’t have long.”

Finn nodded. He did not know exactly how long it would be until the Absolve could pursue them, but it would not be as long as he liked. After the massacre of the scrap camp on Jakku, the neotroopers had taken everything they needed and ferried it back to the Absolve. They had the parts; it was simply a matter of replacing them now.

“What’s on Takodana?” Finn asked.

“Not a lot,” Poe said. “For most people, it’s a pitstop. Refuel, resupply, and rest.” He shook his head. “But there’s no guarantee anyone will be going where we need to go, or how long it will take to find them.” He looked towards the cockpit. “I don’t get it.”

Poe’s usage of ‘we’ did not go unnoticed by Finn, and his gaze fell. “Where are you trying to get to?” he asked.

“Rattatak,” Poe said. “That was where I was supposed to return the coordinates to.” He shrugged. “But any major New Republic planet will do, I guess.”

“Or you can message them you’re on Takodana,” Finn suggested.

“I will,” Poe said. “But it will take them time to reach it. If the First Order gets there first, they will need a lot of ships to face that Star Executor.”

Rey, who had taken a seat against the wall with her arms resting on her knees, looked up then. She frowned at their words before finally standing up and walking up to the cockpit. “Nenn,” she said.

“What is it, Rey?”

“We should help them.”

He sighed. “We cannot get involved. I’ve done more than I should have by helping them escape,” he said. He gestured to the ship’s console. “As it is, we have to refuel on Takodana before we can go anywhere. Our fuel is old and burning fast.”

“And then what?”

“We find somewhere to wait out this conflict.”

“Back on Jakku, right?”

Nenn shook his head. “Not with the bounty the First Order will put on us.”

“But we have to go back! If my parents come back and-”

“This is not up for debate,” Nenn interjected. “Until our bounties are lifted, it is too dangerous.” When Rey opened her mouth to argue further, he said, “Your parents can’t find you if you’re in a First Order prison cell. Or dead.”

She glowered at him, but he did not show any sign he cared. There was little else she felt she could do, however; his point was made and she had no rebuttal to it. After a moment of angry silence, she turned back to the hold.

“Thanks,” Poe said when she returned.

“For what?”

“Trying to change the old man’s mind,” he said. He gave her a warm smile and offered his hand to her. “Anyway, now that we’re not being shot at: hi, I’m Poe.”

She shook his hand. His grip was firm, and instinctively she strengthened her hold in return. When they let go, she saw him flex his hand in response to her grip. “I’m Rey,” she said. “The ‘old man’ is Nenn. Or Mace, I guess.”

“You guess?” Finn asked.

Rey shrugged. “I’ve always known him as Nenn N’ka. But his real name is Mace Windu.”

From inside the right gunpod, Styks turned to look back into the hold. [ _“And he can be one of the meanest men you’ll ever meet,”_ ] she said. [ _“So, tread lightly, my new friends.”_ ]

Rey grimaced meekly. “He’s not that bad,” she said.

“But… he’s really a Jedi?” Finn asked.

Rey looked to him. “He says he was.” She nodded her head towards him. “You were a neotrooper?”

“I was, yeah,” Finn said. “But not anymore. I can’t ignore what the First Order is.”

Rey smiled in amusement and looked between him and Poe. “And the first thing you did was break him out and make them angry?”

Finn nodded his head to the side. “Seemed the right thing to do.”

“He needed a pilot,” Poe said, grinning.

Finn shot him a wild-eyed look of exasperation. “Fine, yes I did! But I would’ve gotten you out even if I didn’t.”

Poe laughed. “You’re good, buddy. I’m just teasing.”

“Oh.”

A pungent, burning smell wafted by them. Rey wrinkled her nose for a moment before the scent registered. She and Poe reacted at the same time, looking around wildly for the source.

Something was burning.

“Nenn! Drop out! Something’s on fire!” Rey shouted. Barely had she said that she felt the ship lurch as they slowed out of hyperspace.

“Where is it?” Poe asked, sniffing audibly as he tried to track it.

Styks scrambled out of the gunpod and hurried across to the left where S-L3K was working. [ _“Is it you, droid?”_ ]

S-L3K replied in annoyance and she backed out.

[ _“It’s not in there.”_ ]

Finn was the first to spot the faint wisps of dark smoke emanating from a panel at the back of the hold. “There!”

Rey was on it in an instant and yanked the panel off. There were no flames, but the circuitry was on the verge of it. Cables that had been gnawed through by some creature had begun to glow as their exposed metals touched against each other. “What’s this system? Sleek! What are these for?”

The droid hovered out of the gunpod and approached the wires. It studied them for a moment before turning to Rey to reply. Barely had it spoken one word however that BB-8 unleashed a suffocating, freezing cloud of white gas at the burning wires.

The organics staggered away, coughing and sputtering as the frigid, noxious gas plumed around the back of the hold, coating the panel before slowly settling to the floor. S-L3K, now covered in a fine layer of white foam, waved its arms angrily as it began yelling at the small droid.

“Blast, buddy,” Poe said through coughs as he waved the gas from his face. “A little warning next time, okay?” He looked at the panel, noting the lack of smoke emanating from it now. “But good job. Looks like that cooled it.”

Rey stepped back to the panel and examined it. “Sleek.” The droid continued ranting. “Sleek!”

It finally ended its tirade against BB-8 and looked back at her. Irritated though it was, it answered her prior question.

“Rear gun? This ship has a rear gun?!”

_[“Are you serious?!”_ ] Styks shouted. _[“Where was this information when we had O-NE fighters behind us?!”_ ]

S-L3K gave her what could only be described as a deadpan stare before reaching to a handle against the wall. It pulled on it, revealing a drawer from which a control system with a targeting display rose up. It was immediately obvious that, like the left gunpod, it was completely inoperable. Components had been torn out and loose wires were splayed across it. S-L3K gestured silently to the electronic carnage before floating back to resume its repairs on the gunpod.

Rey grimaced as she looked at the mess. It was no wonder something had shorted. She saw two loose cables with frayed ends which had somehow come in contact with each other, likely during the dogfight. The panel under where they rested had melted from the short the contact had created. It had to be what had started burning. She pulled them apart, causing small sparks as they separated. “Fixed,” she said.

Styks stared at the panel, her jaw hanging open in disbelief. _[“How is this thing even still flying?”_ ]

“Are we clear, Rey?” Nenn called from the cockpit.

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

“Crisis averted,” Finn said.

They braced themselves as the ship accelerated into hyperspace once more.

“Looks like it’s missing its main processor,” Poe said.

“The heat regulator is gone too,” Rey noted. “If we could go back to Jakku, Styks and I could get all of the parts we need.”

“If you brought it to the Resistance, we could get them delivered with the regular supplies,” Poe said.

Rey sighed. “Well, Nenn doesn’t want to do that, obviously.”

“It’s a shame. The New Republic could really use having Jedi around again,” Poe said. “With Skywalker gone, Chancellor Organa is the closest we’ve got.” He knelt down by BB-8 and gave the droid a pat on its head. “And maybe with the coordinates back in hand, we will.”

Finn folded his arms. “I can understand why you don’t want the First Order to have the coordinates, but why do you need them back? Why not just destroy the chip and make a new copy?”

“It can’t be copied,” Poe said. He stood back up. “The only way to use it is to plug it into a navigation system directly. And it’s no good anyway without the other half.”

“Other half?” Finn asked. “There’s two parts to it?”

“Chancellor Organa’s chip has the coordinates. But General Solo has the navigation chart. If you try to get there without those, you’d be flying blind into unmapped regions of the galaxy.”

Finn bowed his head as a smirk rose to his face. “So… even if the First Order had succeeded getting these, they would be useless.”

Poe grinned. “Pretty much. But we still need them to find Skywalker.”

Styks frowned and looked up at him. _[“What’s to stop them from getting the charts, though?”_ ]

“Finding General Solo,” Poe said. “He’s not an easy man to track down. His smuggling operations keep him off the radar a lot.”

Rey’s eyes widened. “Wait, _Solo_? You mean the smuggler, Han Solo?”

“The war hero?” Finn asked.

Poe nodded. “Yep! So, you’ve heard of him?”

“He made the Kessel Run in under fifteen parsecs! Of course, I know of him!” Rey said.

Poe squinted. “I thought it was twelve.”

“His name came up in training because of his role in destroying the Empire’s Death Stars,” Finn said. “And I’ve heard a lot about him evading the First Order. He’s got a big target on his head.”

“He’s how I got into the Resistance,” Poe said. “When I decided I wanted to fight the First Order, I started doing my own smuggling and eventually ran into him. He liked my flying, so he put me on the payroll.”

“You’ve met him?!” Rey asked excitedly.

“Yeah. He’s almost as grumpy as your friend,” Poe said and nodded back to the cockpit. “If you two change your mind, I’ll introduce you.”

“I’d love that!”

In the cockpit, Mace sighed. Poe was an annoying individual in more ways than one. First his demands to be flown around like Mace’s ship was his personal taxi, then his insistence on him joining the Resistance, and now he was dangling exciting temptations in front of Rey to draw her – and as a result, him – into their fight.

He took some solace in that Poe seemed to be alone in that regard, however. The ex-neotrooper had so far been silent on that front, and had even felt reluctant when the subject of him joining the Resistance came up. The Aleena, Styks, was simply apathetic. Poe was the only one trying to draw Rey in, in which case he felt he could convince her otherwise.

But if she chose to join…

He sat forward, holding his hands together as he stared out into the spiraling hyperspace tunnel. There were plenty of possibilities he did not want to entertain, but he knew he had to. He had some authority over Rey as her guardian, but she was still her own person. And he had not forgotten how the Force had led him halfway across the galaxy just to wait for and find her; she had a role to play in the future, and a dread had begun to manifest in him that whatever that role was would be soon.

But the Force was not clear, either. He knew firsthand how misleading its prophecies could be. She had an important role to play, but that could take countless forms. Nothing put her destiny with the Resistance or the New Republic.

And until such time as she decided to join them, if that ever happened, he would do his best to keep her safely away from it and its conflict. Until that happened, he would train her and prepare her for whatever destiny the Force had in store for her.

Another thought nagged at him over the vagueness of what he had gleaned of the Force’s intentions for Rey. She was not the first person he had encountered with an important destiny, after all; the last person’s importance had taken the shape of excising both the Jedi and the Sith from the galaxy, all the while plunging it into darkness.

To say he worried Rey’s importance might take a similar turn was an understatement.

He glanced back into the hold as she and the other three talked. There was an excitement in her eyes and a gleeful smile he knew all too well; she was curious to what lay beyond Jakku and eager to see it. Seeing that, he reassured himself.

For the moment, at least, there was no sign she was vulnerable to the enticements of the dark side. And unlike Anakin, he would always be with her to steer her away from them when they appeared.

* * *

Rey lurched awake as the ship rocked suddenly. Looking around the hold, she saw Finn, Poe, and Styks also returning to consciousness. She blinked and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. With a yawn, she asked, “When did we fall asleep?”

“A few hours ago,” Nenn said as he climbed out of the pilot’s seat. “We’ve arrived.”

Rey’s eyes widened, at which point she realized the rough bumping of the ship’s flight had ceased. She bolted upright and jumped to her feet. “Takodana?” She reached over to the door controls and a moment later they slid open.

The breeze struck her first. But it was not a dry breeze; the air was humid and smelled strongly of water. But there was another smell, one she knew only from after a rare rain had soaked the plants around Overseer. Here, however, it was much stronger, and as her eyes adjusted to the light of the planet’s day, she could see why.

Save for the landing pad – which was little more than a gravelly hill cleared of obstructions – and the large, temple-like building standing nearby, she saw nothing but the deep, lush green of thick foliage. Her mouth fell agape as a mystified expression lit her face. Stepping out onto the ground, she looked up as she became aware of the trees rising to the sky.

“I never knew there was this much green in the whole galaxy.”

Poe grinned as he stretched his arms out behind him, loosening his body from the uncomfortable position he had fallen asleep in. “This place is pretty mild compared to some planets,” he said. “The forests of Kashyyk are so tall that it’s always night on the ground. And I don’t know if there’s any green more pure than the jungles of Trandosha.”

“I would love to see them someday.”

Finn grimaced beside them. “Oh, stay away from Trandosha. Everything wants to eat you there.”

“It’s great for smuggling outposts,” Poe said. “It’s dangerous to approach by land, so once you have the perimeter guarded, you only have to watch the skies.”

As Mace stepped out of the ship, they spotted a Zabrak woman approaching them with a clipboard. As she neared, she lowered it to her side. “Welcome to Maz Port. Parking fee is thirty credits.”

“We won’t be here long,” Mace said. “We only need fuel.”

“That’ll cost extra,” the attendant said. She looked around Mace at the ship and an amused expression of disbelief came to her face. “You flew here in that?”

“How much for fuel?” Mace asked.

“Depends on how much you need and what kind.”

They began to haggle, at which point Rey turned away. A convenient part of selling to the merchants of Overseer was haggling had been minimal. It was frustrating, and on the few times it had been necessary she had been happy to let Nenn handle it.

She looked to Poe and Finn. “Are you two leaving now?” she asked.

Poe nodded. “I need to find someone with New Republic connections before the First Order gets here.” He glanced to Mace and then back to Rey. “You’re still welcome to come with us.”

“I can’t leave Nenn.”

“I bet he’d go with you if you came.”

Rey hesitated. Poe was probably right. “I’ll talk to him.”

Poe grinned. “Alright.” He gave a wary look towards Mace, whose eyes had come off of the attendant and focused on him with an unsettling fierceness. His smile faltered and he quickly looked away. “Well, uh… Look, just in case, I can’t wait to see if he changes his mind or not.” He pointed towards the temple-like structure nearby. “I’ll be in there looking for connections. If you two decide to come with us, find me there. Otherwise…” He extended a hand to her. “Good luck. And may the Force be with you.”

Rey shook his hand. “You as well,” she said. “And thank you.”

He shrugged amiably. “Eh, I should be thanking you. Without you two, we’d never have made it.” He leaned down to BB-8 who sat beside him and patted the droid on its head, producing a pleased whir from it. “Or have gotten my buddy back.”

_[“I thank you as well,”_ ] Styks said.

Poe looked to her. “What are you planning on doing now?”

She shrugged with a toothy smirk. [ _“No idea,”_ ] she replied. [ _“But I can figure that out.”_ ]

“You could come with us, too,” Poe said. “Your mechanical skills would be valued in the Resistance.”

Styks pursed her lips. [ _“They might have a problem with my bounties first,”_ ] she said. She shook her head. _[“I appreciate the offer. But I will find my own way.”_ ] She looked towards the temple. _[“Though I suppose I will have to start looking there. So you’re not quite rid of me.”_ ]

Poe nodded in amusement. “That’s fine with me.” He looked to Finn. “You ready, buddy?”

Finn looked up from his silent musing, his brow furrow in deep thought. “Uh…” His gaze darted between Poe and Rey for a moment. “Y… yeah,” he said. “I’m ready.” He reluctantly raised his hand in a wave to Rey. “Stay safe out there, Rey.”

“You too,” she replied.

Poe, BB-8, Finn, and Styks turned and left down the path to the temple. Rey watched them go for several moments. As she did, a nervous feeling settled into her gut and for a instance she wondered if she was picking up on someone’s emotions through the Force.

But the unease was her own.

When Mace came up beside her without a word, his gaze following Rey’s to the temple entrance, she looked down and furrowed her brow. “I’m not used to this.”

“What?”

“Not knowing what the future holds. I could go to sleep every night knowing the next day would be the same as the last, but… I don’t even know what the next hour holds now, let alone tomorrow.”

Mace hummed in thought. “You are experiencing something new, and it is natural to be afraid. But for now, you should put your fear aside. Trust in the Force, and trust in yourself to see yourself through this. You fear the future because you doubt your ability to face it, but you are more than prepared.”

Rey looked up at him. “But what about them?”

Mace put both hands on his cane and leaned on it. “They have the ability to face it as well. But they have their own path to walk, and you have yours.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Come. There is time until we can leave. You should train.”

Rather than follow the path to the building, Mace turned and made his way towards the woods bordering the landing pad. Rey followed, pausing only briefly to give one last look back at the temple.

She hoped they would make it.

* * *

The Zabrak woman watched as Mace and Rey walked into the woods. She thought it strange they would go into the wild rather than to the hub stop for rest and refreshments, but it was not her business. Her shift would not be much longer, anyway; soon none of that would be her problem.

She brought her clipboard up and placed the order for the fuel. Nearby, she heard the hum of droids powering up to bring it to the ship.

Returning to her post at the control center – which was little more than a shack with hologram displays of the five landing pads and equipment to monitor the coming and going of ships – she sat heavily into her seat and put her head back to stare at the ceiling.

Takodana was an out-of-the-way planet as it was, but the Maz station was even more so. As such, few ships came here, preferring instead the larger settlements elsewhere. Were it not for the money she needed, the boredom of the job would have driven her away long ago.

A whistling noise from one of the monitors caught her attention, signaling a notification of some kind that she had to address. She took a long breath before sitting upright to investigate it.

She frowned when she saw the alert. An urgent bounty, issued by the First Order.

She almost cleared it; Takodana was out of the way, but it was still a New Republic planet. The First Order had no authority here, and as such their bounties were not considered valid. Had it not been for the _very_ large price, she would not have even looked twice at it. Instead, curiosity compelled her to bring it up.

The faces of the new arrivals appeared before her.

She hesitated only for a second. To respond to the bounty would mean the loss of her job. She could not afford that.

But then, with a bounty that large, she wouldn’t need it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!
> 
> Work had me too busy and tired to write for a while, and I was also revising the outline for where I'd like this story to go. But now that work has settled and I've finished redesigning the plot, it's time to start getting chapters back up.
> 
> Enjoy!


	11. A Moment's Reprieve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having gone their separate ways, Finn, Poe, and Styks discuss their future plans while Mace trains Rey further in the ways of the Force. Meanwhile, FA-8299 recovers from her brush with death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all enjoy! It's a slow chapter, so it's as much a reprieve for the reader as it is for the characters.

The smell of food permeated the air, making Finn’s stomach growl. As hunger took a firm hold on his mind, he had to force himself not to hurry for one of the restaurants which occupied the temple building’s interior.

He gritted his teeth as he forced himself to stay beside Poe and Styks. He remembered, when they found Styks she had been eating, but even that had been quite long ago. He imagined she was plenty hungry as well. But he and Poe had not eaten since before their escape from the Absolve.

“Poe,” Finn said. When the pilot looked to him, he nodded towards one of the vendors. “I’m going to try and grab us something to eat.”

“We don’t have any money.”

“Still have my armor.” Finn patted one of the remaining plates on his leg.

Styks swore angrily and shook her head before muttering something. Poe grimaced at her words. “Don’t beat yourself up. We didn’t know.”

“What?” Finn asked.

“She turned in the armor we traded to her but never got paid.”

“Oh.” A smile of defeated amusement crept to his face and he gave a weak laugh. “Blast.”

“We’re okay,” Poe said. He looked around the interior for a few moments before pointing to a back corner. “There’s communicators there. I’ll see if I can message the New Republic. They may be able to send us some credits; I don’t think anyone here is going to barter your armor.”

The patrons were by no means of wealthy class, but they were a far-cry from the salvagers of Jakku. Finn’s eyes swept over the small crowd, taking in as much as he could glean. Their attire, plain and practical, pinned them mostly as traders and shippers. As Poe had said, Takodana was a pit stop; judging by the dispositions of most, they were there only temporarily.

They also looked tired. Finn realized it would likely be a bad idea to approach any of them to offer selling his armor. Chances were they would not be interested at best and irritable at worst.

He slouched in dismay. “I hope they do send some,” he said. “When was the last time you ate?”

As they made their way across the room, Poe thought for a moment. “When I got the call that the First Order was on Jakku.” He grinned and then elbowed Finn in the ribs. “You guys interrupted my lunch. You owe me a new one.”

“I what?” Finn managed to stammer out.

“Joking, buddy,” Poe said. They reached the communicators and Poe sat down in front of one. “Alright, let’s see…” He found the control port and gestured to BB-8. “Little buddy, could you call up General Calrissian?”

BB-8 whirred in affirmation before producing a spike from its body into the control port.

The hologram emitter activated. It was silent for a few moments, and then a face appeared there. “Dameron? Is that you?” came a hushed voice.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Poe said. “Hey there, Linkli.”

“We thought you were dead, man!”

“I had way too many close calls for my liking, but they missed me. Is the general there?”

“He’ll be on in a moment. I’m glad you made it, Poe.”

“Thanks, Linkli.”

The face disappeared and the hologram fell silent for a second more. Then another face, much older than Linkli’s, appeared. “Poe Dameron, it’s good to see your face.”

“Yours too, General Calrissian,” Poe said.

“When the Rattatak Resistance couldn’t contact you, I feared the worse.” He paused as he looked at something off to his side. “But you’re hailing from Takodana? You must have left before they got there.”

Poe’s eyes widened. “They went to Jakku? They can’t-” He stopped to lower his voice as he realized they might be overhead. “They can’t take on a Star Eliminator by themselves!”

“Urgency required we take the risk. It was a bad gamble.” He raised his gaze. “Did you get it?”

Poe nodded. “Yes, sir. But I don’t know how long until the First Order finds me. We need a retrieval. My ride won’t take me any further.”

“There’s one already on its way. Keep your head low and they’ll be there soon.”

“Thank you, General,” Poe said. “If anything happens here, I’ll try to contact you. Oh, and…” He looked back at Finn and Styks before looking back to the hologram. “And could you send me some credits. None of us have eaten for a while.”

“Well now, we can’t have that. Transmitting now.” He paused for a moment. “Us? I thought you were alone.”

“Made some friends,” Poe said. “You’re going to love my report on all this, General.”

Calrissian laughed. “Wonderful. I look forward to it. Stay safe until then, Dameron. May the Force be with you.”

“May the Force be with you,” Poe repeated. The hologram vanished and he looked down at BB-8. “You got the money, buddy?”

BB-8 unplugged from the port and nodded its head, whistling its confirmation happily.

Poe stood up. “Let’s get some grub then.”

It was not long before they had a small set of food in hand and were seated. They dug in ravenously, conversation falling silent between them all as their attention went solely to sating their hunger.

For Finn, it was some of the best food he’d had, and he doubted that was just because he was famished. First Order rations were designed for utility, made to pack as many calories into as small and light a space as possible. In many cases, that resulted in what could only be described as tasteless gel. But it had been all he had grown up on; every piece of food during training had been just as bland, dry, and unpleasant.

But this was food designed not to simply nourish but be enjoyed as well. The myriad sensation of so many tastes and smells was almost addictive, and so eagerly did he consume them that he was the first of the three to finish his portion.

He leaned back in his seat. “Wow. That’s like nothing I’ve ever had.”

Poe laughed. “First Order food is that bad, huh?”

Finn shook his head. “Just the rations,” he said. “They’re designed to be cheap and feed a lot of soldiers, you know?” He held up the plate he had scraped clean. “But I could get used to this.”

“Well, the stuff we get in the Resistance isn’t known for being composed by top chefs,” Poe said. “But it’s probably still better than what you were getting.”

Finn’s expression fell. “Yeah uh… about that.” He glanced off to the side. “I’m not sure about it, Poe.”

Poe leaned forward and propped his head up with his hand. “What’s the matter, Finn?”

Finn took a long breath. “I… I don’t know if the New Republic can beat the First Order.”

“They’re almost down, though,” Poe said. “Financially, they’re almost bankrupt.”

“I don’t know about that. They’re not so bankrupt that they aren’t able to fund something big.”

Poe frowned in concern and he lowered his voice. “What do you mean?”

Finn shook his head. “I’m not sure. But everyone knows there’s something really big going on in the Ilum system. You remember five years ago, when their attacks would come out of nowhere?”

Poe nodded. “Yeah. They have some kind of cloaking technology.”

“Except they don’t,” Finn said. “You guys have noticed how it all stopped happening shortly after it started, right?”

“Maybe it needed perfecting?” Poe suggested.

“I’m not sure. But it wasn’t cloaking. After it stopped, all the troopers who had been in the Ilum system came back. They were kept separate from everyone who wasn’t there, but talk got out. It’s something to do with hyperspace travel.”

“Hyperspace?” Poe asked. “Like, an improved warp drive, of some kind?”

Finn shook his head. “I don’t think so. It’s something big, that’s all I know. And they’re getting ready again. There’s been a lot of troops getting sent to Ilum. Even us; we were supposed to go there after we got the coordinates.”

Poe grinned. “Buddy, that’s _exactly_ why you should come with me. If it’s something big, that’s got to be part of why the First Order is hurting for credits. It could actually be their last play; if we take it out, that could be it. No more First Order, no more war, and no more bounty on your head. And then you get to go make a home somewhere as a hero to the New Republic.”

When Finn said nothing, he reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. “Give us a chance, okay? Come with me to General Calrissian and give him this information. If this is their last sabok gambit and we take it out, then you won’t even have to pick up a gun.”

[ _“That’s a big if,”_ ] Styks interjected, not looking up from her food.

Poe shot her a frustrated expression, prompting Finn to ask, “What did she say?”

“She thinks it’s a big gamble.”

Finn looked at Styks then back to Poe. “She’s right. And if you’re wrong, once they figure out I helped you attack whatever is on Ilum, there won’t be anywhere I can hide that a bounty hunter won’t find me. Not with the price they’d put on me.” He shook his head. “I can’t join you, Poe. I’m not going to die in this fight.”

[ _“You’re welcome to come with me. I know some other places to hide beside Jakku,”]_ Styls said. Finn looked to Poe for a translation, causing her to roll her eyes. [ _“Learn Aleena, blast,”] she muttered._

Poe chuckled briefly before sighing in resignation. “She says you can go with her to hide. And that you really need to learn Aleena.”

[ _“You weren’t supposed to translate that part!”]_

“Can’t you speak Common?” Finn asked.

She glared at him for a moment before saying very slowly, “Ith har.”

“Wh… what’s that mean?” Finn asked, looking sidelong at Poe in confusion.

“She said ‘it’s hard.’ That was Common,” Poe said, and he grinned.

“Oh. Ah, okay” Finn said, nodding in realization.

[ _“And it makes me sound like an idiot,”_ ] she added.

Poe looked down at the table. “You’re sure about this?” He looked at Styks. “Both of you? I could try and get your bounty forgiven in exchange for your skills.”

[ _“I don’t like playing chances like that._ ”]

Finn nodded. “If you’d seen some of the things I’ve seen the First Order do, you’d be wanting to hide with us.”

Poe expression flattened. “I’ve seen a lot of what they’ve done. That’s _why_ I’m not running.” He looked away from them both. “But if your mind is made up, I won’t force you.”

* * *

The first time FA-8299 had been put into a bacta tank, she had awoken wondering if she was dead. The warmth of the fluid and her body’s neutral buoyancy within it had given her a separated, disoriented feeling. In her first few moments of consciousness, she had felt completely removed from her body, as though she were an unbound spirit in the void of whatever awaited her beyond the veil.

But now, as she came to, the sensation was familiar and saved her a moment of panic. She moved her limbs, her joints stiff. The bruises of her injuries, though having faded, still protested slightly at being disturbed. She clenched her jaw, her teeth and tongue finding the breathing apparatus bound to her face and protruding down her throat.

As she took over her own breathing from the machine, she sighed in relief. She was alive. She took some solace in finding herself in such intensive treatment, as well; if she was going to be executed, they would not have wasted the effort. She knew she was not in the clear fully, though. She still had Kylo Ren to be concerned about.

A hissing sound met her ears as bubbles began to flow from the bottom of the tank. Those monitoring her must have realized she was waking up and were readying to drain the tank. She opened her eyes, squinting as the harsh light of the medical bay met them. She could see figures beyond, but her tired eyes and the fluid around her made their silhouettes blurry.

She looked up as she heard the hatch above unsealing. Pushing off the sides of the tank, she rose up and reached out. A hand grabbed hers and hoisted her out of the fluid.

Two people quickly took her weight as they held her under her shoulders. She was glad for that, as no sooner had she put her feet down on the floor she felt just how weak her muscles were. They carried her to a lift and brought her down into the medical bay, leading her to one of the beds. Once she was seated, they let her go and then draped a medical gown over her shoulders.

“How are you feeling, Captain?”

FA-8299 blinked and looked towards the voice. “Better, Officer Oans,” she said. She furrowed her brow, confused by his presence.

“Good. We’ll need you ready soon.”

She nodded as she looked down. “They got away, then.”

“Yes. Though from how your troops tell it, it was not for lack of effort. Throwing yourself into the reach of a Jedi’s lightsaber, Captain? You’re lucky you weren’t killed.”

“There were no other options.”

“I’m sure.” Oans sat down on the bed next to hers, looking at her with a stern stare. “But you might guess there are some who won’t accept that, even still.”

FA-8299 looked up. She knew who he referred to, but that thought dropped out of her mind quickly. With her vision finally sharpening, the insignia on Oans’ shoulder caught her eye. His rank. Commander. But if he was Commander, then Commander Meeve…

She felt a surge of hate and panic all at once. “He killed Commander Meeve, didn’t he.”

“For circumstances beyond any of our control, yes,” Oans said. He looked over his shoulder towards the medical bay door. Satisfied that no one was eavesdropping, he looked back to her. “If he encounters you, he may do the same to you.”

She gritted her teeth. “He can’t do that! He doesn’t have the authority or the right!”

“That doesn’t matter,” Oans said. “With his power and his status as the Empress’ disciple, he can’t be touched. As long as he is on this ship, we are at his mercy.”

FA-8299 stifled her anger and indignation with a long breath. She had to remain in control; if Oans was telling her all this, he had a reason. Between him and Meeve, she knew he was the more cunning of the two. He would not be talking to her on this subject so urgently or so lightly without cause. “Offi- Commander, what are you wanting to propose?”

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he put his fingers together. “At the moment, nothing. Our priority right now is achieving our mission; that is far more important than dealing with the danger of our Empress’ protégé.” He paused. “But he is the biggest obstacle to achieving that.”

She frowned. “How so?”

“He’s already murdered Commander Meeve, and if we do nothing, he will murder you too. We will not be able to retrieve the coordinates with a leadership in chaos or our troops demoralized. After the betrayal of FN-2187, your death would leave me with nothing but disheartened zombies.” He lowered his head, staring at her from his brow. “Which is why, despite your injuries, you will be leading the retrieval mission again.” He looked up at the medical attendants. “I will delay your charts so that you read as still being in bacta recovery until you are away.”

“What’s to stop him from coming here to kill me while I am supposedly defenseless?”

“Pride. I’m sure he wants his victims to know he bested them.” He sat up straight. “He will be attending the mission as well, but I’ll have you on a separate dropship. By the time he realizes you are up, you will be engaged with the enemy. Even he is not stupid enough to carry out his rage against you in the middle of a firefight. When you retrieve the coordinates, that should dissipate his anger enough.”

She gave a short laugh. “So, this is all dependent on us succeeding this time.” She looked down at her hand, or where it had been. The wound left by the Jedi’s lightsaber had healed mostly in the bacta, leaving a stump of scar tissue where her hand had once been. Its pale, almost gray blue stood out starkly against her body’s natural deep blue hue. There was no time for a prosthetic; she would have to attend the coming battle without her dominant hand and her body still slightly injured. Even being able to prepare for the Jedi this time, she knew it would be a tough fight.

But it was her only option.

She nodded. “Then I’ll succeed,” she said. She looked up at Oans. “They no longer have the element of surprise. We _will_ get those coordinates.”

He gave a slight, unenthusiastic smile. “I believe you will, Captain. And do please understand, as well, that both of our lives are dependent on that.” He stood up. “You had best hurry. We will be arriving shortly. Your troops will have the information for the situation when you get to your ship.”

“Yes, sir,” she said. She stood as well. “Thank you.”

* * *

The rock pelted Rey in the shoulder and she snarled. Even if it had been little more than a sharp sting that would not even leave a bruise, it was not the first piece to have made it past her.

Though that was not all that surprising, considering Nenn had tied a blindfold around her eyes. She could feel him manipulating several small rocks and twigs, levitating them in a ring around her at varying distances in a circling motion. There was no way to determine which he would send at her, and without her eyes it was almost impossible to even realize they were coming before they hit her.

It was not the first training session he had blinded her. On Jakku, before returning to Overseer, they had gone through a similar exercise. The difference then though had been Nenn and S-L3K only threw rocks at her one at a time, so she had had a general idea at least which direction to defend against. But now she had to defend from all directions, and Nenn’s use of the Force to send the rocks and twigs at her made them all the more difficult to sense.

Mace’s lightsaber hummed in her grip, the blade held in the ready position he had taught her for defensive blade fights, for all the good it did. Yet again, a stick slapped her across the back of the head; while she turned and swung to try and cut it in half, it flew out of her reach and resumed its dance with the other waiting debris.

“Don’t focus on the projectiles,” Mace said. He launched a pebble in at her from her right and Rey had barely even flinched by the time it struck her upper arm.

“How am I supposed to block them, then?!” Rey asked, baring her teeth in frustration.

“Let the Force guide you. A Jedi’s skill is as much in their trust of the Force as it is in their own ability.” He shot a pebble at her ear, and while her reaction was delayed, it was just enough for her to duck her head out of the way. It clipped her hair but otherwise missed its mark. “Very good,” Mace said.

“What is the point of this?” Rey asked, turning on the spot as she tracked one of the larger pebbles orbiting her. “I’m not going to fight neotroopers blindfolded.”

“Your senses can be fooled,” Mace said. “And they can be imperfect. You cannot rely on your eyes to see an ambush behind you, or your ears to pinpoint a source accurately. A stun grenade can disable both for more than long enough for someone to strike you down.” A pebble launched at the back of her head, and again she reacted late; the stone glanced off the top of her skull rather than strike her straight on.

Mace softened his voice. “Focus. Reach out. Feel my intentions. Listen to the Force.”

Rey took a long breath. Nenn was an easy presence to sense. Consciously reaching out, she had realized that though it had never been something she was aware of, she had learned and become familiar with his aura in the Force. Sensing him now was far less alien than the other ways in which she could reach out to her surroundings; he was a solid anchor which she could refer to.

She sensed it. A twig to her left moved in to strike her leg, only to be met by the lightsaber as Rey brought it down through the air. A satisfied grin lit her face.

“Well done,” Mace said.

Barely had he congratulated her that a piece of bark shot in at her. She turned and moved her body out of its path, but no sooner had it sailed past her that she felt a compulsion to swing the lightsaber. It met another pebble which had almost reached her, and even as it disintegrated in the plasma of the blade she found herself barely registering that it had been flying at her.

“What was that?!” Rey gasped.

“The Force spoke to you. You listened.” Mace allowed a small smile to pull up at the corner of his mouth. “Keep going.”

He sent the projectiles in at her faster and in rapid succession. He watched her movements closely, noting her precision and the moments when she second-guessed and hesitated. Some of his attacks still made it through to hit her, but that she deflected and dodged as many as she did was a good sign.

Mace kept flinging objects at Rey until she had struck down the last of them. He stood up from the fallen log he was seated on then. “I was concerned that your age would leave you deaf to the Force,” he said. “You still have much to learn to understand it, but it is already your ally.” He walked to her and unbound the blindfold.

“Have you taught before?” Rey asked as she deactivated the lightsaber.

“Yes. I taught many Jedi and was master to one apprentice,” he said.

“Were you this irritating with them, too?” She grinned at him.

“By design.” When Rey looked at him in confusion, he held his hand out for his lightsaber. She passed it to him and he ignited it. “There are several forms a Jedi could employ in lightsaber combat.” He turned and held his blade before him, his expression turning fierce and focused as he imagined an opponent before him. “Each form requires a mastery of one’s emotions as much as the form’s patterns and motions.”

He swung the blade down in demonstration, accentuating the precision of each motion with firm stops and pauses. “It is important to remain in control of yourself _and_ your blade; in the heat of battle, you are just as at risk of losing your life as you are your identity.”

Rey’s brow pressed together in thought. “You mean the dark side again, don’t you.”

Mace nodded. “Its temptation is strongest when we are desperate.”

“But why? Is it stronger?”

He paused as he considered his answer. “It is ferocious. Its strength only comes from that it unbinds us from our restraints. Our care for life and for each other, our wish to do good, these are what the dark side throws away. It is easier to sacrifice a life when you do not care about it and easier to survive when you have no one else to save.”

Rey felt a shiver run through her. “That’s awful.”

“It is,” Mace said. He shut off his lightsaber and placed it into his pocket. “It is the embodiment of hate and selfishness.”

Rey looked up through the trees as she hugged her arms around herself. “I won’t become like that.”

The dense canopy left very little of the sky to be seen. It should have felt similar to the box canyon of Jakku where he had trained her. The foliage provided them ample cover so that none could see them, so it should have given her some sense of safety, but she did not feel any. Worries and unease permeated her mind; Nenn’s words from before, that she would fall to the dark side if she continued to hold out hope for her parents, resurfaced in her thoughts. Could that really make her into the monster he described? Did she need to forget about them?

It seemed wrong to give up on them. If they were still alive, if they were looking for her, then…

Jakku…

She looked at the ground. “I think we should help Poe.” She felt his glare turn on her; even having looked away to avoid it, she winced under its pressure. “It’s what a Jedi would do, isn’t it?”

“A Jedi is supposed to keep the peace, not fight wars,” Mace replied.

“But that’s how to bring peace!” Rey argued. “The First Order, they’re the ones upsetting it, aren’t they? If we beat them-”

“Your thoughts dwell on your parents,” Mace interjected.

Rey’s words froze before a surge of anger rushed up within her. “Don’t read my mind!”

“Then focus, Rey. You are not in control of your emotions.”

“Are you?!”

Mace paused. When he spoke next, his tone was level; but Rey could see the irritation in his eye and feel it through the Force. She had struck a nerve. “I am,” he said.

“Really? Because I think you’re just scared!” Rey snapped. Through whatever leak in his self-control that let her sense his irritation, she thought she could feel fear there as well. But of what? Even if she could faintly sense the small traces of fear, she could not see what they stemmed from. “I can see it,” she said. “You are. You’re afraid.”

“Rey, you are not-”

“Why? Are you afraid of dying?” Even as she asked, the sense of his emotions vanished, as if he had sealed himself. “Is that it?” she asked.

“No, I am not afraid of death. It is not-”

“Then what is it?”

Mace fell silent and his glare deepened. Rey felt herself waver under his gaze, but she kept her eyes locked with his. She knew she had stepped out of line, but where in the past he could give her extra chores or leave her to fend for herself until she behaved, he had no leverage this time. He could scold her all he liked.

She did not care.

And that was plain to Mace. Rey’s emotions were like an open book to him, not because he meant to read her but because her thoughts and feelings were chaotic and vibrant. He was not so much reading her thoughts as he was being subjected to them. Now that she had convinced herself he was making their decisions out of fear, he doubted he could reason with her. Not until he placated her, at least.

He could only see one way to do that, but it was risky. If he let her have her way, if they went to the Resistance, she would be more willing to listen. Somehow, then, he would need to show her what happened when a Jedi simply became a glorified warrior. Somehow, he would have to make her see… and not lose her in the process.

Finally, Mace broke his stare and shut his eyes. “This is a dark path, Rey,” he said quietly. As he concentrated, faint and distant images faded in from the darkness in his mind’s eye. They were indistinct and unclear, too shrouded by the future and the dark side itself. “I cannot see where it leads. The future is unclear at the best of times. But I can see, if you do this, you will have to face the dark… and I cannot see if you succeed.”

The images shifted suddenly. A black cloud seemed to set over them; where before they had been indistinct, they now simply vanished. Instead he felt a stifling presence.

And it was not from the future.

He opened his eyes and looked up through the trees. “They’re here.”

Overhead, the Star Eliminator, Absolve, had entered the atmosphere led by a swarm of ON-E fighters and neotrooper shuttles.

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes a story shows such promise that its failure to live up to expectation leaves one with a bitter taste in their mouth. The Star Wars sequel trilogy did so for me. The characters were too good and the possibilities too great to relegate them to squander them on an obvious cash grab. After reading various headcanons and brainstorming with friends, I began writing The Force Reborn. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading it!


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